Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijani media watchdog Press Council held a roundtable on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the nation's leading English language newspaper, AzerNews, on Thursday.

Press Council chairman Aflatun Amashov said in his remarks that as the first English language newspaper in Azerbaijan, AzerNews plays a tremendous role in delivering news about the country to the world community.

Amashov presented the newspaper a diploma for informing the international community of Azerbaijani realities and for its 15th anniversary.

Addressing the event, AzerNews founder, writer and publicist, Fazil Abbasov, said the main goal of the newspaper is delivering truthful and unbiased news from Azerbaijan.

"A number of English-language newspapers began to be published in Azerbaijan after AzerNews, but were closed shortly thereafter. The AzerNews newspaper has managed to gain authority and functioned independently. That is why AzerNews is continuing its publication," Abbasov said.

Abbasov noted that AzerNews was founded at a time when a number of foreign companies came to Azerbaijan, trying to bend the English language press of the country, but AzerNews has never fallen under their influence.

AzerNews Editor-in-Chief Sevil Mikayilova spoke about the present and future scope of the newspaper's activity.

"We plan to become an internationally popular and influential regional newspaper," Mikayilova said. "For this purpose, we have attracted to our newspaper young and talented specialists mainly specializing in politics and economics. We plan to educate them in international journalism schools."

According to Mikayilova, the printed version of the newspaper has been renewed and its circulation increased. Furthermore, the electronic version of the newspaper has been updated in line with international practices.

Mikayilova said AzerNews' new Ipad version has been created for the English-speaking readers. Also, AzerNews is the only newspaper representing Azerbaijan in the media section of the Android platform, which is available in most mobile handsets.

Mikayilova noted that the negotiations on acceding to the International Press Association have been finalized and according to the organization, AzerNews will be the first newspaper entering the Association from Azerbaijan.

Furthermore, a commercial section has been established at AzerNews, she added.

Jahangir Mammadli, a Baku State University professor, noted that it is not an easy task to publish in a foreign language. He also said the newspaper format is in line with the U.K. press standards and regarded AzerNews as a "grand authoritative newspaper".

The editor-in-chief of Iki Sahil newspaper, Vuqar Rahimzadeh, said 15 years is a huge time frame for a newspaper. He also praised the PDF format of the newspaper, which is widely used worldwide.

Deputy editor-in-chief of Khalq newspaper, Tahir Aydinoghlu, said that he had witnessed the hardship of AzerNews but notwithstanding the problems the newspaper continued work.

Counselor to the South Korean ambassador to Azerbaijan, Kim Jong Ho, congratulated the newspaper staff and wished them success.

The second secretary of Turkish embassy in Azerbaijan, Ahmet Dogan, pointed out the significance of the English-language newspaper.

Zaman-Azerbaycan Editor-in-Chief Suleyman Unal said AzerNews plays an important role in "broadening boundaries".