Press review 17.03. 2016

The main theme of the official press is the results of Ilham Aliyev's visit to Turkey.

The non-governmental press writes about the arbitrariness of officials and improper expenditure of public funds.

The theme of the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations is discussed by the Azadlig, which analyzes the speech of Ilham Aliyev in Ankara on March 15, questioning his thesis about the loyalty friendship with Turkey.

In particular, the author recalls the failure of the Azerbaijani authorities to cancel the visa regime for Turkish citizens.

At the same time, goods delivered from Turkey are paid double customs duty than those brought from Russia.

Finally, representatives of Baku have pretty good relations with the Kurdish PKK, as mentioned at the trial on the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

"There are other examples showing the insincerity of Azerbaijan in relation to Turkey, but this is quite enough," the author writes.

The topic of corruption is raised and the sources of this phenomenon are analyzed by other media. While corrupt officials sit in their positions, corruption is ineradicable. This is a systemic problem, the article in the Novoye Vremya said.

The author considers the legislative measures insufficient, as corruption has become widespread and almost normal for everyone.

Many methods for the fight against corruption are of a purely formal character and fight against this phenomenon is limited to catching petty officials. Therefore, major structural changes are necessary in most administrative bodies of the power.

The Yeni Musavat writes about the illegal activities of the head of the Baku Tax Department Habil Mammadov. In particular, it is alleged that he demanded from the owners of large supermarkets payments in the amount of 6% of their turnover.

 The newspaper considers this a policy of sabotaging the head of state in the fight corruption and says that on this occasion a group of entrepreneurs intends to apply to the head of state.

The problem of the budget deficit is another topic of the media. So Bizim Yol writes that the state budget is done at the expense of foreign borrowing. At present, the foreign debt is 9 billion dollars.

Last year, loans for 600 million EUR were received from the Czech Republic banks. At the same time Azerbaijan gave Georgia a loan for 775 million dollars for 25 years at a symbolic interest.