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135 years passed since establishing the national press of Azerbaijan

22 July 2010 09:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Today 135 years have passed since establishing the national press of Azerbaijan. On July 22, 1875, Hasan Bey Zardabi published first newspaper in Azerbaijan - â€œEkinchiâ€.

The first newspaper had only 56 editions and was published from July 22, 1875 to September, 1877. He played an irreplaceable role in the development of national press in Azerbaijan. â€œEkinchiâ€ was an educational newspaper. It was very popular among the intellectuals and ordinary people as well. Outstanding intellectuals and writers were regularly publishing their articles there. Tsarist Russia began to fear of educational mission of the newspaper and banned its publication.

In the past 135 years, the Azerbaijani press passed through different periods of regression and renaissance becoming a mirror of the societyâ€™s view on the processes. A ban on censorship in 1998 gave serious impetus to the development of the press in Azerbaijan.

There are more than 4000 mass media organizations in the republic, including a number of different newspapers and magazines, as well as Internet-newspapers, which are developing now. The development of information technology made the Azerbaijani press a part of global information network. The process of globalization in the world didnâ€™t step aside the newspapers as well. Today hundreds of journalists are attending trainings and internships sponsored by the international organizations for improving their professional skills.

Azerbaijan Press Council prevented scattered publications and published Professional Code of Journalists, which had a positive impact on solution of problems between the media organizations. Description of freedom of press and expression as a basic principle in the Constitution of Azerbaijan promoted the formation of media as a free and strong institution of the society. Azerbaijani journalists became active participants of these processes.

On June 11, 2010, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev issued an order to celebrate 135 years of the national press of Azerbaijan. According to the order, conferences and workshops were organized in the regions of Azerbaijan on the occasion of 135th anniversary of the national press.

APA News Agency congratulates all our colleagues on their holiday and wishes them successes.