Chairman of the Cyprus Turkish Journalists Union (CTJU) Hüseyin Güven and some members of the board visited Minister of Foreign Affairs Özdil Nami yesterday (19 November 2013) with the aim of exchanging views on the foreign relations and the issues which could be cooperated with the Foreign Ministry.
Speaking during the meeting, Foreign Minister Nami drew attention to the responsibility of the press to inform the public on each phase of the Cyprus problem and stated that it was also the Ministry’s responsibility to contribute to the press while performing this duty.
Pointing out that the important role of the press with regard to the solution of the Cyprus problem was also included in the UN reports, Foreign Minister Nami said sometimes the press was purposely publishing news that did not reflect the exact reality. Nami emphasized the importance of receiving news from the right source. Continuing Nami said:
“We observe that news, which does not reflect the exact reality appears especially in the Greek Cypriot press and sometimes, we see that these are made consciously. It is highly important for our press to get news from the right source”.
Thanking the efforts of the Union for establishing a healthy dialogue with the Foreign Ministry, Nami said they were ready to give every kind of support in this respect.
Nami stressing that both the Foreign Ministry and the Presidency have important duties on informing the press said, similarly the press also has very significant duties on reflecting the developments in the negotiations and the position of the TRNC to the foreign press. Nami underlined that for this purpose it was necessary to act in cooperation.
Reminding that the Foreign Ministry have two departments namely the Public Relations Department and Public Information Office, which were working closely with the press, Nami said they have recently started a study in order to restructure these departments so as to provide more efficient service to the press.