BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 26. A year has passed since Turkic.World media platform was launched.
Chief Executive Officer at Media Development Agency (MEDIA) of Azerbaijan Ahmad Ismayilov answered Trend's questions about Turkic.World project.
- How do you assess the activity of the project during the past year, and its significance in general?
- Turkey's political and moral support for Azerbaijan during the 44-day second Karabakh War played an invaluable role, as in all areas, also in media, leading to an even greater strengthening of our information front-line. This experience testifies to the importance of a joint coordinated response of our states to influence and pressure, in summary, the importance of developing our ties in the sphere of media. We can say with confidence that the Turkic.World media platform, implemented with the aim of creating a unified communication platform for the Turkic world based on our common historical, religious, cultural and linguistic values, is already yielding important results. The further development of relations between Turkic-speaking countries is the focus of attention of both the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the leaders of other Turkic-speaking countries. The accession of other Turkic-speaking states to this platform for a short time indicates the successful continuation of relations of the Turkic world in the sphere of media, which are being strengthened, guided by the idea of unity, solidarity and cooperation. Presently, fraternal peoples living hundreds of kilometers apart receive information about their compatriots on such topics as culture, society, language, and education. Turkic.World also publishes its news in Russian and English. That is why we consider the activity of the first joint digital media platform of Turkic-speaking countries Turkic.World created by Azerbaijani Trend News Agency and Turkish Albayrak Media Group to be extremely important, and we believe that it will continue to fulfill its mission at the highest level.
- What role does this project play in expanding the information exchange between the Turkic states and bringing Azerbaijani realities to the Turkic world?
- Undoubtedly, this media platform plays an important role in information exchange between Turkey and Azerbaijan, also other Turkic-speaking countries are represented in the project. Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, located in a large geographical area, based on common historical, cultural, and religious values, successfully cooperate in various spheres, and mutual strategic partnership reaches the highest level. According to the Memorandum of Understanding "On strategic cooperation in the field of media between Azerbaijan and Turkey", the main goal of the joint media platforms is to further strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in the field of media and communications and create a strategic media partnership. Therefore, the mentioned project is of particular importance in terms of sharing knowledge and experience in the field of media, jointly fighting misinformation in the international arena and reliably informing the world community, and building a communication bridge between the opinion leaders of two countries. The resistance of public opinion to harmful influences is also strengthened as a result of the educational activities of media.
Our victory in the 44-day Second Karabakh War was gained thanks to the determination and dedication of the Victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the valor of the heroic Azerbaijani Army, who made a fundamental turn in the work of the media community, as in all areas. The main theme of Azerbaijani journalism is highlighting, bringing to a wide audience the life story of every person who showed dedication both at the front-line and in the rear in achieving Victory, his contribution to our victory. Now the Azerbaijani media agencies are demonstrating a new conceptual approach to bring their work in line with the pace of the country's development and modern challenges. Representatives of fraternal country (Turkey) media, who went through the hardship of the war together with us, tirelessly conveyed our fair voice to the world, preparing reports from the battlefields. This solidarity inspired us even more. With the deeper and more comprehensive development of our media relations, new projects and platforms have become our main priorities in the military, political, economic, cultural, educational, and trade areas.
-What contribution do such projects make to the integration of Azerbaijani media into the international information space?
- Such projects play a special role in bringing our fair voice to the world, and also in integrating the Azerbaijani media into the international information space. The Turkic.World media platform has become an important means of conveying the realities of Turkic-speaking countries to the world community. We need strong media to bring the truth about our countries to an international audience. We, representatives of the media, must further increase our professionalism and vigilance in order to highlight the realities of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and all Turkic-speaking countries and to convey objective information to the world.