Chief: Anadolu Agency became Middle East’s biggest news agency

Anadolu Agency Chairman of the Board and the Director General Kemal Ozturk asserted on Sunday that the agency has become the biggest in the Middle East region. "I'm proud of the neutrality of AA in its coverage of the Middle East," Ozturk said during an iftar banquet for AA Cairo-based Middle East and Africa Regional Office staff. Ozturk said that he received an e-mail comparing AA's rise to prominence to that of CNN and Al-Jazeera. "CNN rose to fame for its coverage of the 1991 Gulf War, while Al-Jazeera made its name with its coverage of the 2003 Gulf War," he said. "This year, AA gained prominence on the world stage with its unique coverage of the recent events in Egypt." Ozturk recalled telling Cairo Office staff last year that AA would become the Middle East's top news agency by the end of 2013. "Today, I can see this has been achieved even before the year’s end, and this is your achievement," he told the staff. "I can proudly say that if AA was not in Egypt, no one in the outside world would have been able to follow up what is happening in Rabaa al-Adawiya," he said, referring to the site of the main sit-in staged by ousted President Mohamed Morsi.