Media-Related Issues of Eastern Partnership Countries Debated in Istanbul

On February 21-24 in Istanbul an off-schedule meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (CSF) Media Sub-Working Group took place.

The event was organized by Yerevan Press Club with the financial assistance of Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation. The meeting participants - members of the Sub-Working Group and host experts - discussed the media-landscape in 6 EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), prepared by the SWG members of these countries, the problems of digitalization, and arranged to present a joint report on the media situation within the following months.

According to the SWG agenda, each of these events will be hosted by official figures from EaP countries to debate the policy of their countries on the media sphere.

At the Istanbul meeting Deputy Chairpersons of competent parliamentary committees of Georgia and Moldova Chiora Taktakishvili and Corina Fusu were invited to dialogue with civil society representatives. A special session dealt with the media freedom in Belarus following December 2010 presidential elections. Ivan Nikoltchev, Head of Media Section of the Council of Europe, introduced the meeting participants with the CoE plans regarding the media promotion in countries of the region. The preliminary report on monitoring the human rights situation in EaP countries, administered by the respective subgroup, was presented with the aim of coordinating the efforts of different CSF divisions.

Boris Navasardian
Media Sub-Working Group and WG1 coordinator

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