ASSOCIATION OF TURKIC  SPEAKING NEWS AGENCIES  

(T.K.A.)

INTRODUCTION

During the conference on “Cooperation in Communication Between Turkic Speaking Countries” held in Ankara on November 26-27, 1992, it was decided that the agencies, which have signatures below, shall establish an Association of Agencies as “Founding Members” upon their own will and the following statute was adopted:

STATUTE  

Article 1: In order to establish cooperation in communication between Turkic Speaking Countries, an Association of Agencies with the abbreviation T.A.K. has been established. 

Article 2: The main goal of the Association of Agencies is to provide a continuous exchange of news between its members, improve telecommunication opportunities, strengthen professional relations and to protect the members’ mutual benefits.

Article 3: The association prepares a joint bulletin and member agencies of the association develop a mechanism enabling the exchange of news in their own dialects. 

Article 4: The association accepts one news agency from each country. The agency willing to become a member shall meet the following criteria:

a) To adopt the statute of the association

b) To be an agency representing the relevant country in the professional sense

c) Not to have race or religion-based ideologies among its publishing objectives or in its statute as an agency.

The membership application shall be put into records by the “Executive Board” and it shall be included in the agenda of the first general assembly meeting to be held after the application. 

Membership shall be approved by 2/3 of the existing members in the general assembly meeting.

Such condition shall not be requested for the agencies which become “Founding Members” upon the adoption of this statute.

Article 5: The Executive Board shall comprise of a Chairman, 2 Deputy Chairmen and a Secretary General. The headquarters of the association shall be the location of the Secretary General. 

The chairmanship of the Executive Board shall be carried out by the Chairman or Director General of the news agency hosting the General Assembly meetings and such chairman shall carry on with its duty until the upcoming General Assembly meeting.

The Secretary General shall be elected by the General Assembly for a 4-year term. Deputy Chairmen shall be the previous Term President of the association and the next Term President to be determined pursuant to Article 12.

Article 6: The Executive Board shall start working at least one month prior to the General Assembly meeting in order to make arrangements for the agenda, collect necessary information and inform the participant agencies on such issues.

The Executive Board is obliged to send the agenda to the member agencies at least 10 days in advance.

The Executive Board can hold extraordinary meetings if necessary and in case of any emergencies.

Article 7: The Secretariat General shall be responsible for 

a) Ensuring the continuity of the management during the period between two General Assembly meetings,

b) Providing coordination between the members of the association,

c) Preparing the documents required for the implementation of the decisions taken at ordinary and extraordinary General Assembly meetings,

d) Establishing relations with other professional institutions,

e) Taking all kinds of initiatives in order to fulfill its duty.

Article 8: The official language to be used in the activities and correspondence of the Association of Agencies shall be Turkish (own dialect of each member).

Article 9: Member agencies shall be represented by their highest level executives at the General Assembly and Executive Board meetings. Executives of the agencies shall assign their closest assistants to act on their behalf if they fail to attend the meetings. 

Article 10: During the General Assembly meetings, agencies shall be represented by maximum 3 people including their highest level executives or representatives. Each agency shall have the right to cast one vote at General Assembly meetings.

Participation in the Executive Board meetings shall also be limited with 2 people including the highest level executives of the agencies.

Article 11: If an agency that is the member of the Executive Board decides to resign before its term of office ends, a new member shall be determined in line with the rotation principle pursuant to Article 12.

If the resigning member is the Chairman of the Executive Board, the Deputy Chairman that would take over the consecutive term presidency shall resume the Chairman’s duty and the vacant position of the Deputy Chairman shall be carried out by the agency which is next on the rotation. The General Assembly shall convene under the auspices of the agency taking over the Chairmanship in order to approve the new executive board in 3 months.

Article 12: The General Assembly shall convene every year based on a rotation principle among the countries and according to the order of the initials of the member agencies. Under necessary circumstances, the host country shall be chosen upon the offer or candidacy of an agency at the previous year’s General Assembly meeting.  

The annual ordinary General Assembly meeting shall be held to review and approve the Executive Board’s reports and to elect new Executive Board members upon the completion of term of office of the former members.

At least 2/3 of the members shall be present at General Assembly meetings.

Decisions shall be taken with an absolute majority of votes at the ordinary General Assembly meeting.   

Article 13: The General Assembly may also convene in an extraordinary meeting upon the proposal of the Chairman or at least 3 members.

At least 2/3 of the members shall participate in the extraordinary General Assembly meeting.

During the extraordinary General Assembly meeting, 3/4 of votes is necessary in order to take decisions on the proposals for any amendments to be carried out in the statute or on issues out of the purview of the ordinary General Assembly. 

Article 14: This statute shall be published in Turkish (in dialects of the founding members). All copies are equally valid in the legal sense. If there are any conflicts in the interpretation of such statute, the General Assembly shall set up a commission comprising of 3 representatives chosen from the members. Such commission shall declare its decision in 2 months and such decision shall be adopted beyond discussion.

Article 15: This 15-article statute shall enter into force on the date of its approval.