Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 26 / Trend , J.Babayeva/
The Azerbaijan National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) considers impossible to forbid TV channels to air criminal telecasts and movies in evening hours.
"It is necessary to take measures, if any criminal case causes people's suicide. Under the NTRC's decision, criminal and violence movies must be aired only after 23:00. It is incorrect to fully ban them," NTRC Chairman Nushiravan Maharramli told Trend on Feb. 26.
Member of Parliament Malahat Ibrahimgizi applied to Speaker Ogtay Asadov to forbid TV channels to broadcasts criminal telecasts and movies each evening. The parliamentarian thinks such movies and telecasts causes increasing underage and youth's suicides.
The Azerbaijani National Television and Radio Council developed Regulations to protect violating underage children's physical and moral rights two years ago.
Under the regulations, TV channels must broadcasts erotic, fearful, as well as important plots but can influence on children's psychology only after 23:00. Under the regulations, movies containing numerous rough and ribald expressions must be aired only in evenings. Moreover, the Television & Radio Council recommended TV channels not to air dead bodies and corpses of people who were cruelly killed in new programs.
The council is conducting intensive monitoring to check fulfilling these rules.
Maharramli said that the Azerbaijani NGOs can conduct an opinion poll on influence of criminal telecasts and movies on people under the government's support.
"If results of the opinion poll are submitted to the Council, we can take relevant measures on it," the NTRC chairman said. "The world movie industry produces and spreads their products. We cannot prevent it. Audience's interest should be taken into account in this case."
The World Psychiatry Association congress named the 21st century as depression and suicide century.
The post-Soviet countries lead in the world on suicide cases' number. In 2009, Lithuanian ranks first followed by Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Latvia and Slovenia, Ukraine, Japan and Estonia.
There is not any official statistic on number of suicides in Azerbaijan. Although the prosecutor's office is developing suicides' statistic, this report is not publicized.
Basically, suicide cases take place in the northern and southern regions of Azerbaijan. Most of all, suicides occur amongst young people in Azerbaijan.
Some 60 million people attempt to commit suicide in the world each year. But only one million of them can achieve it. A total of 90 percent of self-murderers are people suffering from depression disease. Some 15 percent of depression patients die as a result of suicide. Majority of self-murderer depression patients is men.
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