The New Azerbaijan Party and the Press Council have co-hosted the conference “Heydar Aliyev and Azerbaijani Press” on Friday at the Park INN-Azerbaijan hotel.

Deputy Chairman, Executive Secretary of the New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov stressed that national leader Heydar Aliyev`s birthday is marked in Azerbaijan and afield. He noted Heydar Aliyev contributed a lot to freedoms of speech and press in the country, and national leader was the first head of state to receive Friend of Journalists award. According to Mr. Ahmadov, Heydar Aliyev provided all conditions for development of media and hailed the role of press in the society.

Ali Hasanov, chief of Presidential Administration`s department for social and political affairs said the fact that Heydar Aliyev abolished censorship, froze newspapers` debts to the “Azerbaijan” publishing house indicates to how much importance national leader paid to the role of press in the society. Department chief noted that Heydar Aliyev`s strategy allowed to create favorable conditions for the press in Azerbaijan.

Chairman of the Press Council Aflatun Amashov told of national leader Heydar Aliyev`s activity to safeguard the purity of the Azerbaijani language, stregngthen the position of press in the society, train professional journalists and develop media in the country.

Director General of the Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency Aslan Aslanov said he had been honored as a journalist to accompany national leader during his foreign trips. He pointed out that Heydar Aliyev placed a particular emphasis on improving the activity of leading media outlets and shaping the press in Azerbaijan. He noted that Heydar Aliyev`s heritage is inexhaustible source for journalism. According to him, journalists today accepted as criteria of their activity Heydar Aliyev`s main principles - ideology of Azerbaijanism, respect to human values and serving the state system.

Also speaking at the conference were Chairman of the Journalists` Union Elchin Shikhly, President of ANS Group of Companies Vahid Mustafayev, Milli Majlis deputy, YAP deputy executive secretary Mubariz Gurbanly, editor-in-chief of “Azerbaijan” newspaper Bakhtiyar Sadygov and editor-in-chief of 525-ji gazet newspaper Rashad Majid. They noted that Heydar Aliyev had always been open to journalists during his tenure.

President of the ANS Group of Companies Vahid Mustafayev made his remarks at the event. The participants also saw the film on Heydar Aliyev-media relations shot by ANS channel and received “Life and Time” book prepared by ANS.

Ali Ahmadov noted national leader`s strategy to develop Azerbaijan is now being continued by President Ilham Aliyev. The strategy played an important role in strengthening freedoms of speech and press based on democratic traditions.

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