12 March 2015 / By New.Az

Azerbaijan not falling behind other countries for its pluralism.

Head of the Public Policy department at the Presidential Administration, president’s assistant Ali Hasanov has made the above statement at an event dedicated to the announcement of the winners of a competition on individual journalist writings organized by the Mass Media State Support Fund on the occasion of Novruz holiday, APA reports.

Ali Hasanov said public discussions can only be possible by inviting representatives of the media, political parties and public organizations, creating public organizations under executive authorities, and organizing this kind of events.

“During such events, we discuss the situation of the media, problems in creativity and other areas, media initiatives. Azerbaijan has free media, free Internet. Every journalist here is able to collect informative materials and put them up for discussion, without the fear of being censured. There are no journalists being persecuted for what they write. Unfortunately, some international organizations claim Azerbaijan lacks free media atmosphere, etc. for some interests. These are all made up. The atmosphere of pluralism in Azerbaijan doesn’t fall behind those in other countries. In this area, we are ready to even compete with leading western countries, not just post-Soviet countries,” he said.

Ali Hasanov noted that head of state Ilham Aliyev has said many times that everyone has to the right to write about any official, and analyze their activity.

“Every journalist is also a representative of the people and the state. Therefore, the president reiterated that media representatives are an example of patriotism. We want journalists to act honestly and transparently in the spirit of patriotism,” the president’s aide completed.

Source: http://www.news.az/articles/society/96345