The subject of destruction of newsstands in Baku has recently been discussed by independent media. In an interview with Objective TV Turan News Agency’s director, Mehman Aliyev said that the process of replacing the newsstands in Baku began in September 2011.
The so-called "Parisian" kiosks with an area of 12 sq. m replace kiosks of 4 m2 of the Gasid press distribution company. Thus, they allegedly want to give a European view to the streets of the capital, said Aliyev.
He noticed that the Mayor Hajibala Abutalibov last year stated that it is for the purpose of improvement, but the same was said by Abutalibov ten years ago, when eliminating the newsstands of Gaya – he claimed that they interfered with passage of people.
However, the new stalls close the road, not only for citizens, but also for fire engines,such as in the Russian Drama Theatre. The new stalls are shops, selling mostly food.
According to Aliyev, the project is a serious blow to the business of print media. "Yellowed newspapers 15 days old hang in the kiosk near the Oil Academy. The kiosk does not have new newspapers. When asked how many newspapers are sold per day, the seller said "10"! That is, the newsstand area of 12 square meters sells 10 newspapers. And there are queues before the 57th Gasid kiosk that they wanted to demolish," said Aliyev.
Asked about the new owners, Aliyev said that their names are not known to him. The head of the socio-political department of the Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov proposed to ask the Mayor Abutalybov.
"Request for the Mayor was sent, but no answer has been received. But the Mayor's office told me that Abutalibov has nothing to do with it, and that this was done by a different group. However, people, who tried to eliminate Stall No 57 of Gasid, introduced themselves as employees of the Department of Trade of the Executive Power (commonly called Mayoralty) of Baku.
In addition, last year Abutalibov warned Gasid about the replacement of the kiosks at someone's direction. Gasid has said nothing about it, but Abutalibov knows who owns the new stalls," said Aliyev.
A large web of 400 trading outlets is created with an illegal turnover of about 12 million manat. There are no cash registers and no accountability to the state. But most of the media are silent, as virtually all of them receive financial assistance through the Fund to Support the Media under the President, as well as in cash in envelopes.
On the question whether the operation with newsstands is associated with the presidential election next year, and plans to address the critical press, Aliyev said yes. According to him, if this trend continues, the situation of the press will deteriorate markedly. "I have information on the use of special equipment to monitor and block the readers of unreliable websites, especially in state institutions. In fact, they set Internet censorship," he said.
Since the late 1990s began the destruction of the classical system of newspaper delivery. In the regions, it is impossible to get a newspaper by subscription, because there is no one to deliver it, and there are virtually no stalls in the districts. But even if they are, people are afraid to sign up for a critical press.
Speaking of standards, Aliyev said that on the number of stalls per capita Azerbaijan lags behind many countries. For example, in Europe every 1-2 thousand people have one stall, while in Azerbaijan this figure is 15 thousand.
He sees the way out of the critical situation in the consolidation of the society in defense of newsstands, because the policy is a blow to the interests of all citizens, society and the state. "And the society should say what it thinks of this," he said. -0 -
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