One of the perks of being a journalist is, of course, all of the wonderful people you get to meet and work with and last week for me that included our Daily Sabah newspaper team the ANews English news broadcasting channel and diplomats on behalf of the Istanbul Consular Corps. This was because, on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 7, the three organizations held the Joint Media and Diplomacy Event in which various consuls from all over the world were introduced to Türkiye's legacy with classical music as well as a variety of Turkish culinary specialities.
One of the highlights of the evening was no doubt the impressive by concert violinist and composer Cihat Aşkın, who was accompanied by an 18-member orchestra and a stellar female vocalist by the name of Yaprak Sayar. The event took place in an auditorium at the impressive Turkuvaz Media Center in Eyüp Sultan and was entitled a "Joint Media and Diplomatic Event." The classical repertoire included pieces from his 2019 album, aptly titled "Turkish Waltzes," and included compositions by the famous Turkish composer Dede Efendi as well as songs known as much for their memorable lyrics as their composition, including Samanyolu and Pervane.
While Aşkın's performance was certainly a highlight, it was also a unique experience to share the space with so many different consulgenerals from all over the world. One of the highlights was getting the opportunity to meet Dr. Ivana Zerec, consul general for Croatia in Istanbul and currently serving as Istanbul Consular Corps Chairperson. Zerec is the first female chairperson to lead the ICC, which in short is a nonprofit and non-political organization run by consuls for the other diplomatic consuls working in Türkiye. Established in 2001, the ICC aims to provide networking opportunities and informative seminars and conferences to equip consuls with information on the latest developments in Türkiye.
Considering there are 147 consular representations in Istanbul, you can imagine that there were people from all over the world at this special event, including the journalists that work so hard to present the news via this newspaper to readers in English and in Arabic. Meanwhile, along with Zerec, Daily Sabah's Editorial Coordinator Mehmet Çelik delivered an entertaining opening speech and Master of Ceremonies Andy Boyns, who is an ANews anchor and presenter hailing from London, was as always highly charismatic – you can see on his broadcasts on ANews and in other areas, such as in the many movies and television shows he has acted in, including the new Turkish Netflix series "Midnight at the Pera Palace."
This event, which also aimed to introduce international cuisine as well as classical music traditions, was a wonderful opportunity to meet people from all over the globe who are all interested in, invested in and residing in Türkiye, including the strong team of journalists at our newspaper. It's been eight years now since the English-language Daily Sabah newspaper was first published. But, I actually had been working for Sabah newspaper for seven years prior. A small team and I used to translate the headlines in the Turkish news into English for foreign readers. Then, when the newspaper was started, I was given the honor of writing this column and sharing what life is like for a Western foreigner residing throughout Türkiye. I used to be the only foreigner at the newspaper, whereas now there are dozens of journalists working for Daily Sabah from all over the world and it was a true honor to meet them all. Together at this event, journalists from Daily Sabah and ANews who bridge the gap on current developments, sports, economic, cultural and lifestyle news had the opportunity to meet the international diplomatic representatives we also write for and about.
For me it was a wonderful experience, not only being flown out and hosted on behalf of the newspaper, but it also doubled as a visit to the new headquarters and of course, Istanbul. I got to catch up with our Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Altay, Editorial Coordinator Mehmet Çelik and Managing Editor Batuhan Takış, all highly dynamic and personable in their own rights. It was also such a lovely opportunity to meet the dozens of dynamic international journalists that run and put out our newspaper as well as journalists such as anchor Andy, who of course also doubles as an expat. I enjoyed meeting our economy editor Alen Lepan, hailing from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and sports editor Kelvin Ndunga who is originally from Zimbabwe. Then there is of course, Buse Keskin, whom I have worked with for years, a real joy as our culture and arts editor. Meanwhile, meeting fellow U.S. native chief copy editor Mindy Yartaşı was I must say an especially special treat. I also finally got to meet in person other fellow expat journalists such as Klaus Jurgens that I had been in contact with for years prior yet from afar.
I also had the opportunity to mingle with the Canadian, Pakistani, Swiss and many other consular generals as well as virtuoso Cihat Aşkın himself. The opportunity to listen to him live in such an intimate performance was a true luxury. Last but not least, the feast of Turkish favorites such as kebabs, koftes and wraps were distributed among us on endless trays along with various forms of baklava and many other delicious delights.
