Press Review 02/22/2017

Appointment of Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, protection of the rights of the relatives of the blogger Ordukhan Teymurkhanli, credit bondage of the citizens, and the economic situation in the country are the leading topics of today's press.

The Azerbaijan newspaper writes about the appointment of Mehriban Aliyeva to the position of first Vice President and her worthy mission of serving the people. The author recalls in this regard of the September 2016 changes in the Constitution, and also notes the public activity of Mehriban Aliyeva for the last 22 years.

The site of the Azadlig newspaper writes about police lawlessness with regard to the relatives of the political emigrant blogger Ordukhan Teymurkhan. Police rushed straight to the home of his sister, which was preparing for the commemoration of one of their relatives.

Ordukhan’s brother, 64-year-old first-aid physician Khanlar Dadashov and Ordukhan’s nephew Sabuhi Zeynalov were detained for 30 days for disobeying police, the lawyer Laidzhev, who believes the arrests absurd, said.

The newspaper Echo has published an article entitled Citizens of Azerbaijan Go to Debt Bondage. A large number of loans, debts and lack of financial resources often forces people to go to extremes. Experts estimate that today in Azerbaijan about 2.5 million people are debtors, i.e. almost every third citizen of the country.

Novoye Vremya has published an article entitled Development of Regions on Example of Lankaran. The past year can be described as "tea" year, according to the data of the district’s Executive Power. Thus, the volume of packaged tea produced in Lankaran was 2,301 tons, while in 2015 this figure amounted to 248.4 tons, and in 2012 - 238.3 tons; in other words, an increase compared to the 4-year-old index was 9.6 times, and precisely the same ratio was to the index for 2015.

But the good news for the local EP ends here. In the past eight years the basis of the region's industry has been the production of milk and milk products by Palmali Co. According to data for 2012, the company was losing money in the region, but it still produced 38.8 tons of butter, 632.7 tons of cheese and sour cream, and 3,416 tons of other dairy products.

For four years, the production of different dairy products has decreased by 83%, 55% and 30%, respectively.