Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

While the fifth volume of the Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia has recently released, the editorial office, which published the first national encyclopedia, celebrates its 50th anniversary this December.

During its overall activity, some 26 years of which coincides to the period of dependence from the Soviet Union and other 24 years to the country’s independence, Azerbaijan could release as many as 15 volumes of this fundamental work.

The First Azerbaijan Soviet Encyclopedia, published in 1970 with active support of national leader Heydar Aliyev, went down into the country's history as the first fundamental research on all aspects of knowledge and information.

This first 10-volume prepared with the assistance of a large team of academicians was a historic event for the country's scientific and cultural life at the time, containing quite extensive information about the history, cultural heritage and life of Azerbaijan.

It was a respected publication for every intelligent Azerbaijani family to have a copy at home.

Despite all positive sides, the edition was significantly influenced by the Soviet ideology, which necessitated publishing a universal national encyclopedia for Azerbaijan after restoring its independence.

The Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia Science Center was established at the presidential order in 2004. The center published the first volume of the modern encyclopedia in 2010, which included accurate information about the country, reflecting cultural and historical achievements of the Azerbaijani people.

The ideology of Azerbaijanism was the core principle in the preparation of a new national encyclopedia. The modern encyclopedia has played a tremendous role in enriching the intellectual potential of the Azerbaijani society.

Director of the center Tofig Nagiyev said that academic publications such as the National Encyclopedia has one consistent quality - accuracy of the facts and objectivity of its submission.

Its purpose is not only to avoid actual, textual errors and drawbacks, but more importantly to ensure the content conformity of each article described in encyclopedia with the latest developments in the field.

The academician noted that material published in the encyclopedia should give only an idea about well established scientific theories on a particular fact or phenomenon.

As today scientific discoveries replace one another there is a necessity of updating this fundamental book year by year.

With consideration of changes occurred in the country over certain period new materials are included in special edition of the book. Now, the center is preparing to release special “Azerbaijan” edition of the encyclopedia in English.

The volume of each book is about 800-900 pages. The first two volumes of national encyclopedia and special one entitled "Azerbaijan" can be purchased only at the ANAS National Encyclopedia Science Center.

Some 25,000 editions of the third volume of the encyclopedia were distributed free among libraries and government agencies of the country.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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