Closure of Azerbaijani newspaper "Azadlyg" postponed

The release of the opposition newspaper "Azadlyg" has been extended for two weeks after the edition office had partially repaid the debts to the publishing house "Azerbaijan". This was stated by the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 14, the edition office of the newspaper "Azadlyg" received a letter from the state-owned publishing house "Azerbaijan". According to the letter, the edition office was proposed to repay the debts to the publishing house until June 27 or the newspaper would be closed. As of June 1, the debt of the newspaper amounted to more than 17,000 manats (about 12,000 US dollars).

The edition office was able to partially repay the debt by transferring to the publishing house the revenue from the sale of the newspaper issues during the past two weeks. This was reported by Rakhim Gadjiev, the first deputy editor-in-chief.

According to him, the loss of the revenue will increase the arrears of wages to be paid to the edition employees. Meanwhile, they got their wages only for January 2016.

Rakhim Gadjiev has noted that the newspaper issues "were hardly sold" because of the restrictions imposed by the authorities on the distribution of the newspaper issues. The journalist has suggested that the Azerbaijani authorities "pursue a policy for the survival of the opposition press."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.