Prof. Şeref Ateş, President of the Yunus Emre Institute, took part in the “Photos of the Year” selection, featuring photographs capturing the significant events of 2023 from the perspective of Anadolu Agency (AA). 

Prof. Ateş, attending the “2024 Route of Culture and Arts Meeting” in Doha, Qatar, reviewed 147 images captured by AA reporters and photojournalists in Türkiye and abroad throughout 2023. These photographs were submitted for voting across five categories. 

Prof. Şeref Ateş, President of the Institute, cast his votes in various categories including “News”, “Environment-Life”, and “Sports”, as well as special categories such as “Earthquake: Hope” and “Gaza: Evidence”. He voted for Hamit Yalçın’s “Fairy Tale Country” in the “Environment-Life” category, Muhammed Enes Yıldırım’s “A Giant in the Bosphorus” in the “News” category, and Dursun Aydemir’s “Sultans of the World” in the “Sports” category.   

President Prof. Ateş also voted for Adsız Günebakan’s photo titled “Symbols of Hope” in the “Earthquake: Hope” category. In the “Gaza: Evidence” category, he chose the photo titled “A Look at the Mother” taken by Belal Khaled.   

“The Turkish nation has overcame this disaster with dignity, resolve, and unity”

Ateş emphasized that the Turkish nation exhibited remarkable solidarity and sacrifice during the earthquake disaster, stating, “The beginning of 2023 was marked by challenges for both our nation and humanity. After the unprecedented disaster in our country, we demonstrated remarkable solidarity and sacrifice, rising to our feet in the face of adversity. Allah tests people with trials on earth. This earthquake has been our trial as the Turkish nation.”

Highlighting their collective response post-disaster, Ateş remarked, “The Turkish nation has overcame this disaster with dignity, resolve, and unity. We demonstrated unity and solidarity as both a government and a people. With reason, logic, and science as our guides, we aim to rebuild with sound construction and thoughtful urban planning, ensuring a hopeful recovery. I would like to once again express my condolences to our nation.”

“Today, we are in need of compassion, as Yunus Emre eloquently illustrated”

President Ateş emphasized the significance of Anadolu Agency’s initiative to spotlight the Gaza genocide through the “Photos of the Year” voting, stating:

As Yunus Emre Institute, we echo the sentiment of Yunus’ philosophy with the following statement: Allah has crafted the entirety of the universe as a cohesive whole, where the elements of good and bad, beauty and ugliness, perpetually coexist in the intricate interplay of all living beings. As a realm of trials, the world has been a stage where evil confronts good. For this reason, we observe that a significant portion of history has been marked by wars. Today, we are in need of compassion, as Yunus Emre eloquently illustrated by likening the world to a shadow. The stance Yunus emphasizes is, above all, a conscientious one that advocates for love over conflict, as expressed by the sentiment, ‘I did not come for a fight, my endeavors are for love.’ It encourages the ethos of ‘Let us love and be loved,’ transcending grudges, hatreds, and ambitions, and fostering a perspective capable of seeing beyond differences to encompass all nations. What strikes me when I look at this photo is the reminder of how a wounded child seeks the compassionate embrace of a mother. It is incredibly valuable for Anadolu Agency to bring these images to the forefront of society’s attention.”