TRT official: Regional, global topics eyed at channel's int'l forum

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Turkish TRT television channel's general manager, Mehmet Zahid Sobaci, has said that the channel's recent fifth forum brought global and regional topics to the international agenda in a polyphonic and multidimensional perspective, Yeni Shafak newspaper has reported.

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the TRT World Forum.

"We have to generate new ideas and set new goals through international platforms such as TRT World Forum," he said.

Sobaci underlined that despite the physical obstacles due to the pandemic, the world is now more engaged in dialogue than ever.

He added that there is a huge need for discussion, common reasoning, exchange of ideas, and developing a new understanding than ever before.

“Since the end of the 20th century, states have faced some common problems that they have never encountered before, that they cannot solve with their own internal mechanisms and that concern the whole of humanity. Intricate problems that transcend national borders such as global terrorism, epidemics such as Covid-19, ecological disasters, global warming, crimes on the internet and cyber-attacks, mass migrations, and income distribution injustices have left the global political and economic system faced with multidimensional crises and threats,” Sobaci said.

He pointed out that the effectiveness of the global economic and political system depends on a high-level, comprehensive, and uninterrupted global cooperation.

Along with its contribution to democratization, the digitalization process can also lead to a diplomatic crisis with a social media message, cyber security attacks, and other problems such as disinformation, fake news, which should be fought at the international level, Sobaci said, while commenting on digitalization process.

“International platforms where these problems are discussed and solutions are developed are more valuable than ever. With the TRT World Forum, we bring global and regional issues to the agenda of the international public in a polyphonic and multidimensional perspective. We strive to be the voice of disadvantaged geographies, societies and individuals with our understanding of publishing that puts people at its center,” Sobaci stressed.

Stating that the problems can only be resolved by discussing them on a global basis, Sobaci stated that the TRT World Forum as an intellectual discussion platform is valuable in shaping the future.

Noting the importance of new approaches to the global, he said that new ideas and new goals have to be generated through international platforms such as TRT World Forum.