"The media relations between Azerbaijan and Arab countries are not strong enough. This is due to certain reasons ... ”
This was stated by the chairman of the Press Council of Azerbaijan Aflatun Amashov in his interview with Ednews on the relations between the Azerbaijani and Arab media.
We present you an English translation of that interview.
- Dear Aflatun Amashov, first of all thank you for your time to give us interview. We are going to talk about Arab media. And the first question is how a modern journalist should be as for your imagination?
- It is a good question and I would like to talk first about the a modern journalist as per your first question.
To be honest, a modern journalist should be the one who tells the truth and shares objective information. The modern journalist must also have a knowledge of foreign languages in order to have access to various sources of information as well as being honest and thruth sayer.
- The Arab media covers an estimated 500 million people worldwide, which is almost 5% of the world population. Besides, I would like to mention the relations between the International Eurasia Press Fund and Aljazeera Media Network. However, this relation cannot be considered satisfactory. What do you think is the reason for this? How can we further strengthen our cooperation with the Arab press?
- Thank you for your question. Allow me first point the time at the 44-day Patriotic War, during which the Arab media was not also out of attention. This, of course, was possible thanks to the IEPF. The IEPF has worked closely not only with the Arab media, but also with the Baltic media.
As for the Arab media, I would like to note once again that the IEPF has created special conditions for the arrival of the Al Jazeera staff in Azerbaijan as well as providing access to information in Karabakh.
It should also be noted that due to organisational support of the IEPF, a giant media network such as Al Jazeera came to Azerbaijan and made a five-part film about Azerbaijan's regions including Baku. The film was so magnificent that it introduced Azerbaijan to the 500 million Arab world, as you mentioned earlier. At the same time, the presentation of these films also conveyed to the Arab world that Azerbaijan was under occupation. Of course, all this is still small compared to what we expect to be done. It is especially important to increase contacts with the Arab press. Several memorandums and agreements have already been signed between Azerbaijan and the League of Arab States. At the same time, the Azerbaijani side participated in several of their events as an observer.
- In the past 30 years, all information about Azerbaijan have been delivered to the world in different languages. Even Turkish and Russian media outles published information about Azerbaijan. Do you think it can possibe to broadcast Azerbaijani news in the Arab media in the near future?
- In general, during the Great Patriotic War, Azerbaijani news was often published in the Russian and Turkish media. The point is that a journalist representing each media outlet was sent to the scene, but they sometimes made mistakes when they reported the incident to their centers. This was usually because they did not know enough about the place.
In addition, it is possible to create an English-language channel in Azerbaijan, such as TRT World. I think that through this we can disseminate objective information about Azerbaijan directly from the country through the English language to especially Arab countries.
I would like to add that there is a religious closeness between Azerbaijan and the Arab countries. We are Muslim nations, and I think that in this regard, our religious unity can play a significant role in relations in many aspects.
Interviewed by Rena Murshud
