PM Azerbaijan
I would like to share with you good practice of Azerbaijan in creating favorable conditions for
national minorities for effective using media. The article 47 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Azerbaijan says that everyone may enjoy freedom of thought and speech. In accordance with this
article, the representatives of national minorities may freely express their opinions on various issues,
including issues related to themselves.
There is no restriction to internet and other forms of digital communication in Azerbaijan. According
to the statistic in 2016 there were 77 internet users per each 100 persons in the country. Article 2,
paragraph 4 of the Declaration of the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and
Linguistic Minorities says that persons belonging to minorities have the right to establish and
maintain their own associations. In accordance with the article, the Azerbaijani government created
necessary conditions for national minorities to establish and maintain their own associations. There
are many organizations and national cultural centers of national minorities functioning in Azerbaijan.
These organizations play an important role in solution of socio-economic and cultural issues of
national minorities and in their integration into society.
Some of these organizations of national minorities have their newspapers and journals to be
published in their languages. Also, presently there is radio broadcasting in Kurdish, Lezgin, Talish,
Georgian, Russian and Armenian languages. Thus freedom of speech and thought in Azerbaijan
create favorable conditions for effective using media by national minorities to disseminate
information about their rights. Thank you for your attention.