What they said - Notable quotes, closing session

“I believe this (Eurasian Media Forum) initiative, when time passes, will become a good tradition. I believe the forum is going on at a very high organisational level. I believe it has allowed many participants to see how the mass media has developed and its problems. I call on our colleagues to be more active in expressing their thoughts” - Sultanbayev Abdykadyr, Zhogargy Kenesh, Kyrgyzstan

“Sometimes some (media) opposition rejoices in problems. One time I was a victim. Our union is in a semi-underground situation. Sometimes my colleagues were hurting. I see some pictures were being taken, so I would rather close” - Luftulla Kabirov, chairman, Journalists Union of Uzbekistan

“Independence is a nice word and everyone uses it and tailors it to his or her own understanding. We have to define it” – Dariga Nazarbayeva, chairperson of Board of Directors, Khabar Agency, Kazakistan

“We have to retrain journalists to restore their original role. We are a building block of civil society. We have to do this as a trade union with a social status. We know that if we are not there, 70 per cent of the journalists (in Russia) will earn less than $100 a month” - Vsevolod Bogdanov, chairman, Union of Journalists, Russia

“It is very important that we untangle the complexity of issues and problems so we can say there is not much difference between Europe and Eurasia” - Vsevolod Bogdanov

“In this day and age it is almost impossible to control the media because, with the internet and satellite television, people will have access to information. I think forces of nature will force countries to have more openness in the media” - Riz Khan, Rizkhan Productions, United States

“It is unfortunate if some things have gone backwards here in the past few years. But we have to see this in a longer perspective. If you look at it in a perspective of, say, 20 to 30 years, what has been achieved so far is considerable” - Mary Dejevsky, diplomatic editor, The Independent (UK)