Turkey: Editor hails great launch of TRT World website

The newly-launched English news website for Turkish state broadcaster  TRT has received "massive interest" in its first days of operation, its editor has told TheAnadolu Agency.

TRT World website Editor-in-Chief Sebnem Oruc told AA on Monday that the launch in beta of the service on the url beta.trtworld.com on May 1 had been a huge success for the "long-awaited" project.

She said: "It is an unprecedented effort for Turkey to launch an international news website which publishes in English.

"We can say that, right now, we are providing just an offering of what we will have on display in a few months' time."

The website is the online service for TRT World, which will launch a 24-hour global news network in the last quarter of 2015.

"Summer can be considered our infancy after birth. We aim to be walking and then running by autumn," Oruc added.

The website attracted visitors mostly to its Turkey and Middle East output on its first two days of operation, Oruc said, adding that its two-minute world video bulletin published daily was proving popular with news consumers.

TRT Director General Senol Goka said the TRT World's web stream represented the maturing of the English desk of Turkey's state broadcaster, which celebrated its 51st founding anniversary on May 1.

"The content is rich and it will make us proud. It was worth waiting for," he said.

Goka said the TV network and its website would broadcast news all around the world "because the Turkish people have a lot to say".

Headquartered in Istanbul with four newsrooms around the world, TRT World will provide live reports and documentaries with the online service providing a rich source of global content in articles and vodcasts.