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Washington, D.C., November 16, 2001 -- For the second time in two years, Voice of America (VOA) Greek Service Chief George Bistis and VOA Turkish Service Chief Taclan Suerdem have received the Ipekci Peace and Friendship Prize for Communication. Bistis and Suerdem were chosen "for their multifaceted and sincere cooperation in support of the Greek-Turkish rapprochement on an international level."

The prestigious award, established under the auspices of the United Nations, was presented during the 10th biannual Ipekci Awards Presentation held in Athens, Greece, on November 2, 2001 by former Prime Minister and Supreme Court Justice of Greece Mr. Ionnis Grivas. Others receiving Ipekci Awards this year were the Ministers of Agriculture of Greece and Turkey, G. Anomeritis and G. Gokalp; the Co-Presidents of the Turkish-Greek Business Development Council, S. Tara and P. Koutsikos; and the Presidents of the Universities of Athens and Istanbul, K. Demopoulos and K. Alemdaroglu.

Bistis and Suerdem were the only journalists honored with the 2000-2001 Ipekci Award for Communication. It was presented to them in recognition of the VOA cross-Aegean electronic dialogues they conducted with affiliate stations in both countries during the year 2000, and for the impact that these radio bridges had on the rapprochement between the peoples of Greece and Turkey. They were further recognized for co-hosting the May 2000 VOA multimedia conference "Greek-Turkish Rapprochement and Its Effect on Efforts for Regional Peace and Stability," which was carried on radio, TV, and the Internet. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Greece and Turkey, George Papandreou and Ismail Cem respectively, participated in the program through addresses at the conference.

This is the second time that Bistis and Suerdem have been honored by the Committee for the Ipekci Peace and Friendship Prize. In November 1999, they received an Ipekci Recognition Award for a series of conflict resolution reports and interviews. 

The Ipekci Peace and Friendship Prize was established 22 years ago, under the auspices of the United Nations, by a Greek citizen, Dr. Andreas Politakis, in memory of Abdi Ipekci, just days after Ipekci's death. Abdi Ipekci was the editor of the Turkish daily Milliyet who was assassinated in 1979 following a trip to Athens where he discussed ways the Greek and Turkish media could work towards the improvement of relations between the two countries. The award is presented every two years on a rotational basis in Athens and Istanbul. Milliyet and the Athens daily Elefherotypia have been the driving forces behind establishing and preserving the award.

The Voice of America is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts over 900 hours of news, informational, educational, and cultural programming every week to an audience of some 91 million worldwide.  Programs are produced and broadcast in English and 52 other languages.

For additional information, please contact the Office of External Affairs at (202) 619-2538 or send email to pubaff@voa.gov.

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