Media Cooperation with the Arab World and Iran
The IMS “Media and Dialogue” focus area aims to enhance freedom of expression and, through exchanges and collaboration between media professionals, generate more nuanced media coverage in Denmark as well as in the countries of cooperation. Activities include cooperation with media partners throughout the Arab world and Iran. What's it like for foreign media to work in the Arab world? IMS has interviewed some of the experts:Archive
- World Press Freedom Day: Watch out for "Big Brother"
- New international initiative in support of Iranian media
- Social media and democracy in closed societies
- Turkey's divisions: Not about religion, but about class and ideology
- Turkey a future central player in Middle East
- Iran – a twitter revolution?
- Turkey and the Middle East – Journalist Conference, Damascus
- Filming in the world’s happiest country
- Tunisia’s only independent radio station fights back
- One woman, one camera in the streets of Beirut
- Opening doors for media in the Arab world and Iran
- Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian broadcasters find common ground
- Want to work with media in the Arab world?
- Iranian journalists forced into hiding
- Online reporting fills reporting gap in Iran
- Regional programme in Arab world approved for next two years
- Sharing a wealth of experiences
- Vacancy: Student Assistant
- One logo - two discourses
- Beirut Conference November 2007
- Media in the line of fire amid unrest in Beirut
- Fostering professional collaboration
- Elections Handbook, Arabic, 2005
- Conflict Sensitive Journalism, Arabic
- Tunisia's media landscape, June 2002
Turkey a future central player in Middle East
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A resurgent Turkey is rewriting the rules of the power game in the Middle East, emerging as a new, important mediator. Those were some of the opinions voiced in a high profile meeting in Damascus in November about Turkey and the Middle East
By Lis Jespersen, International Media Support
The conference was hosted by the Danish Institute in Damascus and was funded by International Media Support (IMS).
Academics, policy makers, correspondents, journalists and editors from the Middle East, Europe, and US enjoyed two days from 10 - 11 November with fruitful discussions concerning the changes in Turkey – in political, economic and social/religious terms, and how Turkeys views its place in the world today, especially in relation to the Middle East and how this development influences the region and the relationship with Europe.
Turkey a bright spot in otherwise turbulent Middle East
The general consensus to emerge from the meeting amongst the participating academics, journalists and politicians was a positive view of Turkey’s role as a new mediator in the Middle East.
Patrick Seale, writer and commentator on the Middle East, said:
- In recent years, Turkey’s diplomacy has scored many successes, winning great popularity in the Arab world and strengthening Turkey’s hand in its bid to join the European Union. Some people would go so far as to argue that there is no future for Turkey without the EU, and no future for the EU without Turkey.
- In one way or another, a resurgent Turkey is rewriting the rules of the power game in the Middle East in a positive and non- confrontational manner. This is one of the few bright spots in a turbulent and highly-inflammable Middle East, he added.
Turkey and its neighbours
The presentations and discussions touched on topics such as “Turkish foreign policy and the Middle East”, “Civilianising Turkish foreign policy and the role of civil society in Turkey’s relation with its neighbourhood”, “Turkey and Syria – a new kind of friendship in the Middle East” and “Visions for EU’s engagement with Turkey and the Middle East”.
Dalai Haidar, a young female Syrian journalist from Syria Today Magazine, was pleased with the wide choice and variety of speakers and topics at the conference, saying it had been like going into a candy shop. Former Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mogens Lykketoft who discussed “European Visions and Turkey’s role in the European Future” added that he felt a newfound understanding had emerged of this very complex topic.
Carsten Wieland, a Danish political journalist and consultant specialising in the Middle East described Turkey’s role in the following way:
- Turkey is engaged in a renegotiation between its pro-west commitments and its family ties to east and south. This is part of a wider shift in regional relationships and perspectives.
Find more information on the Danish Institute in Damascus here.
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