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APAâ€™s statement on Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutogluâ€™s interview

14 April 2010 10:12 (UTC +04:00)

APA notes that its correspondent in Washington Isabel Levine was accredited at the Nuclear Security Summit in the United States for coverage of the event and she received a mandate from the agencyâ€™s central office to interview with the Turkish and Armenian officials.

Levine has interviewed with the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, but about 10 hours later after the interview was published, spokesman for the Turkeyâ€™s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Burak Ozugergin made a statement that the Foreign Minister didnâ€™t give such an interview.

The agency investigated the issue and clarified that Ozugerginâ€™s statement was not based on truth and the interview was given just by Davutoglu.

Correspondent Levine sent a letter to the central office explaining the situation. â€œI was surprised when I heard about the Turkish officialsâ€™ denial of Davutogluâ€™s interview. I visited the hotel where Davutoglu stayed and tried to accord the interview with his press secretary, but he refused to help me. I waited for Davutoglu until that he came to the dining room and approached him when he appeared. I asked several questions. The minister said that he had no much time and would give short answers. I asked three questions and received the answers, which were published by the agency. I donâ€™t know what I have really to do because I have not faced with such situation before. I couldnâ€™t tell the story and it was impossible for me, as a person unaware of the problem, to know what the meeting resulted in. My colleagues covering the meetings of Turkish delegation told me today that the Turkish officials ceased their contacts with journalists temporarily because they reached unofficial agreement with the Armenian delegation not to make statements about the details of the negotiations and meetingsâ€.

APA doesnâ€™t consider it accidentally that the Turkish officials denied the interview just after the Davutogluâ€™s meeting with his Armenian counterpart and it is not confident that it is in accordance with the diplomatic maneuvers.

The agency strongly condemns it as an action against its image of reliable source. APA regrets for such situation it never faced in its relations with international and local partners, interviewers.

The agency strongly rejected the idea that it was the correspondentâ€™s story and insists that the interview was given by Davutoglu.
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=119916