China Today Magazine to Launch Turkish Edition

The Turkish edition of China Today magazine will go on sale in major cities of Turkey starting from Sept. 1, which is expected to promote mutual understanding between Turkish and Chinese people and facilitate the two countries' business relations.

"We believe the biggest problem for further development in the Turkish-Chinese relations is the lack of reliable sources of cultural and economic information on China," Chief Executive Officer Sadi Zengin of Dijitek Group, which is in charge of editing and publishing the magazine, told Xinhua in an interview.

As two large emerging economies, China and Turkey have a large potential to improve business relations but their economic ties were far from well developed, said Zengin.

"More reliable sources of information on China are desperately demanded especially by the business people, civil servants, scholars and certain institutions in the country," he said, adding "Dijitek Group intends to help the improvement of the relations through undertaking the publication of China Today-Turkey."

Dijitek Group signed an agreement in May with China's state-owned China International Publishing Group (CIPG), which granted Dijitek the copyright of three English-language magazines, including China Today, Beijing Review and China Pictorial for ten years.

China Today-Turkey will specifically focus on information about China mostly needed by the Turkish business circles, with 70 percent of the content selected from China Today, Beijing Review and China Pictorial and 30 percent contributed by Turkish journalists and analysts, according to the publisher.

Chinese economy, management styles, economic regulations and the development of specific sectors and industries will be introduced in the magazine, while the magazine also intends to present a genuinely Turkish view of China, discuss the developments and problems in Turkish-Chinese economic, commercial and cultural relations and put forward suggestions, said Zengin.

"We'd like to give Turkish people a chance to see China through the view of the Chinese people instead of through rumors," he said.

The first issue of the magazine features a cover story about China's green energy industry, a subject on the economic development of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and an analysis of the revaluation of the Chinese currency, according to Zengin.

In the part contributed by the Turkish side, an interview with Chinese Ambassador to Turkey Gong Xiaosheng will be presented, together with the story of a Turkish silk company finding success in China and a macro-economic comparison of Chinese economy and other economies.

Other aspects of China such as its culture, philosophy, geography and language will also be included in the magazine, said Zengin.

Dijitek will publish 10,000 copies of the magazine per issue and distribute them in big bookstores and shopping malls of major cities, while its initial aim is to reach 2,000 subscribers in the first three months, said Zengin.

The company will also work to increase advertisements, especially those for Chinese companies eager to enter the Turkish market, in order to overcome the difficulty in marketing and advertisement, he said.

A launching cocktail of China Today-Turkey will be held on Sept. 24 with the hosting of the Chinese Embassy in Turkey ahead of the Chinese National Day, which falls on Oct. 1.

(Source: Xinhua)