Baku. Farid Mizayev – APA. An event has been held to award the winners of an individual writing competition organized by the State Fund for Support of Mass Media Development under Azerbaijani President on the occasion of the 141st anniversary of Azerbaijan’s National Press.
State Fund Executive Director Vugar Safarli made keynote remarks at the event.
Then, the Azerbaijani president’s aide for public and political affairs, Ali Hasanov, addressed the event.
Hasanov congratulated all media representatives and journalists on the 141st anniversary of Azerbaijan’s National Press.
Referring to the history of Azerbaijan’s media, Hasanov recalled that prominent intellectual, naturalist-scientist, educator and publicist Hasan bey Zardabi founded Azerbaijan’s national press on July 22, 1875 with the publication of ‘Ekinchi’ newspaper.
“Having been published with 56 editions for about two years, the newspaper made a significant contribution to the development of science, culture, literature and art by bringing together a number of democratic-minded intellectuals such as Mirza Fatali Akhundov, Seyid Azim Shirvani, Firudin bey Kocherli, Najaf bey Vezirov, Asgar agha Gorani, Alakbar Heydari, Said and Jalal UnsuzadÉ™ brothers, Mahammad Kangarli,” said Hasanov. “The newspaper opposed religious prejudices, ignorance and obscurantism in Azerbaijan and conducted a serious struggle to achieve cultural development of the people and the formation of the idea of Azerbaijanism.”
“At the turn of XIX-XX centuries, Azerbaijan’s national press that brought the country’s public life new revolutionary ideas, changed the people’s outlook and made them write a new page of history, has provided a platform for prominent intellectuals such as Ali bey Huseynzade, Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Fatali Khan Khoyski, Alimardan bey Topchubashov, Uzeyir and Jeyhun Hajibeyov brothers and played a major role in the realization of the Azerbaijani peoples’ dream of freedom,” said Hasanov.
Speaking about modern journalism, the top official quoted the statement of the great strategist Heydar Aliyev that free and powerful media has great influence in the globalized world and can make an invaluable contribution to the formation and development of statehood.
After returning to power, Azerbaijan’s National Leader Heydar Aliyev was constantly giving consideration to the development of media, said Hasanov, adding that namely Heydar Aliyev declared July 22, the date of the start of ‘Ekinchi’ newspaper’s publishing, the National Press Day in Azerbaijan.
“Heydar Aliyev turned the freedom of expression and press, as well as the pluralism of opinions into a constitution norm in Azerbaijan. In 1998, he cancelled the censorship which was established in 1992 and was a serious obstacle to the development of the national press,” said Hasanov.
“The Ministry of Press and Information was liquidated in 2000 and Azerbaijan abandoned the state control over media,” he added.
Hasanov pointed out that currently, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev successfully continues the media policy and traditions, the foundation of which was laid by Heydar Aliyev.
By approving the “2008 Concept of state support for the development of mass media in the Republic of Azerbaijan”, Azerbaijan’s president created a conceptual framework for the solution of media problems and provided the consistency of the state policy in this direction, said the top official.
According to him, the celebration of the national press day at the state level, the granting of state awards and honorary titles to media representative for their merits in the development of the national press, the implementation of measures to strengthen social protection of journalists, the allocation of one-time financial assistance to media outlets, etc. have become a tradition.
Hasanov noted that nearly 40 million manats have been allocated from the state budget to the State Fund for Support of Mass Media Development under Azerbaijani President since 2009.
“Perhaps, Azerbaijan is the only county where journalists are provided with housing by the state,” said the top official. “As you know, 156 apartments were constructed for journalists in 2013 and 256 more apartments will be commissioned by the end of 2016.”
He stressed that one can easily see the prevalence of harmful phenomena when looking into the ongoing events and process in the region and around the world.
According to him, the destabilization of the situation in different parts of the world, civil strives, social disaster and other negative cases have turned into today’s reality.
The tendencies of control over global information space are strengthening, said Hasanov, adding that various external circles try to instill their views to the whole world through transnational media resources, to direct people within certain interests, and regrettably, they achieve this to some extent.
“Today, we are witnessing that intolerance towards representatives of various races, peoples and religions has increased in the countries that present themselves as a sample of democracy and we are witnessing that they are drawing back from multicultural values and tolerance,” said the top official.
Transnational media supports the clash of interests of various circles and encourages interference in the internal affairs of different countries, coups and civil wars, he added.
“But we can say with sense of pride that the Azerbaijani society, in which tolerance has predominated for centuries, rejects these negative tendencies,” said Hasanov. “As distinct from many countries, Azerbaijan is a place where not mutual tolerance, but mutual respect for various peoples, ethnic groups and religions is protected.”
The leading local media outlets, demonstrating professionalism, objectivity, impartiality and adhering to the principles of patriotism, play an important role in conveying Azerbaijan’s just cause to the world community, the top official stressed.
“I believe this is the Azerbaijani media’s response to the Azerbaijani president’s call and adherence to “Ekinchi” traditions,” he concluded.
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