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President Aliyev approves Azerbaijani-Turkish strategic media cooperation accord

Ilham Aliyev

President Ilham Aliyev has signed the law to approve the memorandum of understanding between Azerbaijan and Turkey on strategic cooperation in the media sphere, Azertag reported on February 18.

The approved memorandum was signed on December 10, 2020, in Baku by Azerbaijani Presidential Aide Hikmat Hajiyev and Director of Communications of the Turkish Presidency Fahrettin Altun. The signing ceremony took place after the one-to-one meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Baku on December 10.

The document was put to a vote and adopted in the Azerbaijani parliament on February 1, 2021.

Earlier, local media sources reported, quoting Turkey’s Daily Sabah that Ankara and Baku will sign a memorandum of understanding on a joint media platform to enhance collaboration in media and strengthen friendly relations of the two countries.

Within the scope of the Joint Media Platform, information, experience and resources will be shared to establish a healthy media relations network infrastructure while the official media institutions of both countries will carry out joint works, the reports said.

The platform, which will work toward fighting misinformation in the international arena and informing the international public opinion correctly, will establish a bridge between the two countries’ opinion leaders and representatives of various media outlets, while vocational training and exchange programs will also be created.

A detailed plan will be established within three months after the MoU takes effect.

The joint working committee will hold regular meetings in the two countries and will submit the detailed plan including the calendar and financing of the project to the authorities of both countries.

“We witnessed that black propaganda toward Turkey and Azerbaijan as the latter’s struggle to liberate the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh gained pace. Therefore, we saw that increasing cooperation in the fields of media, communication and public diplomacy between Turkey and Azerbaijan was a vital issue,” Altun was quoted as saying.

About Fidan Abdullayeva