The Global Journalism Council (GJC – KGK), established on 14 October 2019 by a presidential decree with the status of an “International Organisation”, concluded its third ordinary general assembly marathon – which began on 8 April – on 4 July with the final elections for the executive board, audit committee, ethics committee, specialist committees and working groups. Whilst President Mehmet Ali Dim was re-elected at the General Assembly, significant changes were made to the Council’s organisational structure, including the composition of the Executive Board.
The General Assembly of the Council, which as of July 2026 has representatives in 84 countries and 81 provinces, was held online via the Zoom platform by a company accredited by the Ministry of the Interior. The General Assembly, attended by members who had gained delegate status from the General, Local, Foreign and Digital Media Councils elected in April, also saw the chairs and executive boards of the four councils determined. Regional working groups, established for the first time this term, were also elected.
CHAIRMAN OF THE PRESIDING COMMITTEE KARAKAŞ
The online General Assembly was opened by Secretary-General Lütfü Karakaş, after which the election of the Presiding Committee took place. The presiding committee, chaired by Lütfü Karakaş, comprised Hacı Odabaş, lawyer Atilla Diler and Meryem Kanberoğlu. In accordance with the agenda, following the opening address by President Mehmet Ali Dim, the executive committee’s activity report, the financial statements and the provisional budget, as well as the reports of the audit and ethics committees, were read out, voted on separately and approved.
DİM SUBMITTED ITS LIST
Elections for the new term then commenced. The lists of candidates for the Executive Committee, Audit Committee, Ethics Committee and Honour Committee—both main and reserve—submitted to the Presiding Committee by the outgoing General President, Mehmet Ali Dim, were unanimously approved. The congress was then concluded with separate votes on the Assembly chairpersons, the Executive Board, the specialist committees and the working groups. Özgenur Reyhan Güler (General), İsrafil Avcı (Local), Elşad Eyvazlı (Foreign) and Güven Hasbaş (Digital) were elected as Assembly chairpersons.
DİM: WE HAVE AMBITIOUS GOALS
Mehmet Ali Dim, re-elected as General President for a three-year term, emphasised in his acceptance speech that they had become a large family over the seven years since the organisation’s founding, stating:
“Remember… When this Council was established, there were those who said, ‘They won’t succeed.’ There were those who said, ‘You cannot bring together journalists with such differing views.’ There were those who said, ‘An international professional organisation is nothing but a pipe dream.’ But we clung to faith, not despair. Looking back today, we see that what has proved us right is not our claim, but the hard work we have put in together.
Roles come and go. Positions come and go. But the trust you leave behind endures. I have never viewed your trust as personal support; I have seen it as a responsibility entrusted to our profession. I promise that, just as I have done yesterday, I will carry this trust with the same diligence tomorrow. This organisation has never been the organisation of any one person. The Global Journalism Council is a home for the local reporter working in Anatolia, the editor working in the national media, and the journalist representing Turkey in different countries around the world.
We are not each other’s rivals. Our rival is ignorance. Our rival is fake news. Our rival is the mindset that seeks to discredit journalism. We are the honourable representatives of the same profession. Let us focus on nurturing our shared ideals rather than our differences. For a strong Global Journalism Council is not only essential for its members but also for Turkey’s voice, the reputation of the Turkish media, and the defence of truth across the world.
Our aim is to make the KGK one of the leading organisations for media cooperation across the Turkic world, the Balkans, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. It is to become a professional body that is respected and recognised not only in our country but throughout the world. Thankfully, we have achieved a global structure befitting our name. We have attained the capacity to organise events and activities across every corner of the globe. This has been made possible by your support and contributions. We will now continue to make a difference and achieve what has not been done before as an even more high-calibre NGO. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all our members who have accompanied us on this journey and served from the past to the present. I also wish every success to our colleagues who will take on roles in the new term,” he said. In the section for wishes and aspirations, delegates attending the congress also expressed their views.
The elected committees, which will serve for a three-year term from 2026 to 2029, are composed of the following members:
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee, in which General President Mehmet Ali Dim, General Secretary Lütfü Karakaş and General Treasurer Muhammed Vefa Özalp were directly elected by the General Assembly delegates, includes: Nevzat Çiçek, Savaş Çokduygulu, Ersel Yıldırım, Nalan Yazgan, Edip Üzen, Hayati Arıgan, Hacı Odabaş, Merih Ak, Ulaş Can, M. İlker Yücel, Meral Ay and İsmail Yunus Soner. Reserve Members of the Board of Directors: Yaşar Önel, Nurcan Demirtaş, Sabri Çağlar, Murat Çiçek, İlker Ülker, Felat Bozarslan, Mustafa Birol Güger, Kübra Çelepi, Eran Hasibi, Doğancan Kuru. The Board of Directors will hold its first meeting in the coming days to allocate responsibilities.
AUDIT COMMITTEE
Yakup Aslan, Ercan Aslan, Bilal Güley, Aydın Tatar, İzzet Sarı, Kemal Deniz, Hakan Yaman.
Reserve Members of the Audit Committee: Abdullah Biçer, Mustafa Doğan, Cabbar Sıktaş, Osman Sav, Sait Alıcı, Fikri Türkel, İsmail Topal.
ETHICS COMMITTEE
Recep Aydın, Gürsel Eser, Tolga Şardan, Cenap Kürümoğlu, Cahide Hayrunnisa Çiçek, Canan Arslan, Gökhan Güler. Ethics Committee Alternate Members: Sedat Azizoğlu, Necat Ahmet, Esra Alus, Ferhat Esnek, Kamil Güler, Harun Atalay, Hayati Ağca.
HONOURS COMMITTEE
Yaşar Yıldız, Bekir Doğan, Şerife Türkeş, Erol Kara, İbrahim Necati Günay, Orhan Kaplan, Hayati Nizamoğlu, Ayhan Mergen, Suhabi Okumuş, Muammer Başer, İrfan Hoşafcıoğlu.
MASS MEDIA COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Özgenur Reyhan Güler (Chair), Dursun Eker (Deputy Chair), Ünsal Karabulut (Vice-Chair), Adnan Türkkan (Vice-Chair), Sabri Çağlar (Vice-Chair), Ferhat Yıldırım (Vice-Chair), Sevgi Uçar (Council Secretary), Nurcan Demirtaş, M. Veysi İpek, Şehnaz Demiral, Ece İçmez.
LOCAL MEDIA COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
İsrafil Avcı (Chair), İbrahim Arslan (Deputy Chair), Mustafa Demir (Vice-Chair), Mustafa Efe (Vice-Chair), Salih Suat Deniz (Vice-Chair), Murat Dönmez (Vice-Chair), Melek Barış, Orhan Doğan, Esat Bindesen, Esma Kural
FOREIGN MEDIA COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Elşad Eyvazlı (Chair of the Council), Ahmet Coşkunaydın (Deputy Chair), Vatan Öz (Vice-Chair), Eran Hasibi (Vice-Chair), İsmail Yunus Soner (Vice-Chair), Esra Öztürk (Vice-Chair), Nigar İbrahimova (Council Secretary), Aynur Tattersall, Dilek Kaya, Khamza Djumayev, Emir Abdurrahman Bulut.
DIGITAL MEDIA COUNCIL EXECUTIVE BOARD
Güven Hasbaş (Chair), Denizhan Erkoç (Deputy Chair), Sertaç Virancık (Vice-Chair), Üstün Tuncer (Vice-Chair), Kemal Özdilek (Vice-Chair), Tolga Yenigün (Vice-Chair), Kübra Çelepi (Council Secretary), Emre Baktiroğlu, Mustafa Salman, Dicle Nehir Bozdan, Ulaş Odabaş.
SPECIALISED COMMITTEES
Publications Committee: Mehmet Ali Dim, İsmail Bayazıt, Nevzat Çiçek, Savaş Çokduygulu, Lütfü Karakaş, Ersel Yıldırım, Özgenur Reyhan Güler, Ardan Zentürk, N. Benan Kepsutlu, Dünya Taşlardan, Meryem Kanberoğlu.
Conciliation Committee: Murat Onur, Yıldız Yakar, Selahiddin Akkuş, Caner Güngör, Hüseyin Bekar, Feyzullah Taş, Yalçın Bel, İsmail Altunbaş, Halit Akgül, Ramazan Çetin, Mahfuz Demir.
Education Committee: Ali Hançerli, Hediye Eroğlu, Nihan Müşerref Yarkent İnce, Ferit Kesen, Özkan Karakaya, Cemal Kaplan, Harun Atalay, Okan Dilek, Bekir Nazım Ada, Uğur Kapuçi, Erdal Savaş.
Political Relations Committee: Erdal Güven, Hasan Basri Akdemir, Dursun Eker, Banu Şen,
Osman Bekâr, Adnan Türkkan, Fatih Atik, Yakup Aslan, Şerif Varol, Ümit Kozan, Metin Demir.
Social Relations Committee: Seda Demir, Serkan Tatlı, Serap Karaoğlu, Özner Berber, Fatih Fırat Ekaterina Gündüz, Mert Talat Dilekçioğlu, Cemil Yıldız, Mahmut Özbalcı, Fatma Sumer, Zeliha Akkuş.
Project Development Committee: Ahmet Külekçi, Batuhan Aybers, Mehmet Kumcağız, Aybeniz Küzeci, Veysel Kavrayan, Gündüz Üç, Talip Bayram, Necdet Yıldırım, Alper Ceylan, F. Melih Maradit, A. Kadir Konuksever.
WORKING GROUPS
Professional Association Working Group: Mehmet Ali Dim, Bülent Öztürk, Savaş Çokduygulu, Lütfü Karakaş, İsrafil Avcı, Bekir Doğan, Celil Acar, Hüsniye Karakoyun, Mehmet Emin Güzbey, Orhan Kaplan, Recep Aydın.
Latin America Working Group: Roberto Trobajo Hernandez, İ. Yunus Soner, Mariana Andrea Mendez Ruker,
Cesar Gomez Chacon, Roberto Fonseca Francisco, Felipe Martorell Cammarella, María Gabriela Castillo.
European Working Group: Vatan Öz, Alpar Kato, Adil Elmas, Nufel Yavuz, Sedat Azizoğlu, Sefa Doğanay, Arber Hitaj.
Asian Working Group: Mehmet Adnan Akfırat, Devadeep Purohit, Nyamdari Baigalmaa, Tolga Karagöz, Mesut Küçükaslan, Burak Ersoy, Imam Sopyan
Turkic World Working Group: Cesurhan Taş, Daryanur Jaforava, Dauletkhan Zhiyenkulov, Dovran Orazgylyjov, Khamza Djumayev, Gulnaz Kutueva, Aidana Stamova.
Middle East, Gulf and Africa Working Group: Deniz Büstani, Thierno Ahmadou Sy, Majdi Tall, Mohammed Ali Bakhit, Abdülkadir El Şatır, Mohamad Sultan, Khalil Assali.
North America Working Group: Buse Biçer, Dilek Kaya, İslam Doğru, Selçuk Acar, Bünyamin Sürmeli, Anıl Süral, Eren Abdullahoğlu.
Eastern Europe and Eurasia Working Group: İsmet Zaatov, Daria Melekhova, Gulsum Khalilova, Dmitri Calac, Liana Jorjoliani, Miranda Oganezova, Albina Khazieva, Nadezhda Tydykova, Teya Arshba.
If you missed it – 5th Global Journalism Council annual meeting: 41 countries gather to shape the future of media
