Hasan Barın Director of Barın Ajans Talks About His Journalistic and Media Journey

Yemenat

Mohammed Al Mekhlafi

I contacted Mr. Hasan Barın, director of Barın Ajans, and told him that I wanted to interview him for an article introducing him to Arab and international readers, as part of my work as a writer and my publications on a number of Arabic- and English-language websites and platforms.

He welcomed the idea, and I asked him to send me a brief account of his journalistic and media journey so that I could prepare the interview questions. But I was surprised when he began sending me messages, one after another, for nearly an hour, telling me about everything from his early childhood in the village to the founding of Barın Ajans.

When I read what he had sent me after translating it into Arabic, I realized that he had shared a complete story with me. I decided to present it here in this form.

Hasan Barın says he attended primary and middle school at the village school in Akçalan, in the Gediz district of Kütahya Province in western Turkey.

From his early school years, he was passionate about reading and writing. Because his parents worked in İzmir, he lived with his grandparents in the village until he was thirteen.

Whenever his parents visited him during the holidays, he would ask his father to buy him at least ten newspapers, which he would then read from beginning to end.

He still remembers the first book he ever received. It was a gift from his mother’s cousin, whom he used to call “uncle.” He not only gave him the book but also read 24 pages of it to him. The book was titled Ali and Mercan and told the story of the friendship between a child and a donkey.

He later moved to İzmir to live with his