ACTIVITY OF HEYDAR ALIEV FOUNDATION IN INFORMATION SPHERE
Arthur Atanesyan
"Noravank" Foundation
17 November 2009
In Azerbaijan anti-Armenian information actions are carried out both by
state and non-governmental organizations a part of which are sponsored
by state. Among them the special place holds Heydar Aliev Foundation
which, being non-governmental organization, from the very first day
of its establishment is directly managed by the Alievs family. The
chairperson of the Foundation is active political figure Mehriban
Alieva – the wife of the president Ilham Aliev – and the branch of
the Foundation in the Russian Federation is headed by their daughter
Leila Alieva.
The Foundation, actively cooperating with state and other structures
(president administration, Ministry of National Security, The National
Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and diplomatic missions abroad),
services the main direction of Azerbaijani policy and firstly
anti-Armenian propaganda in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. The Foundation finances the publication of multilingual
literature – books, magazines and booklets, their dissemination in
different countries, the arrangement of the events in Azerbaijan
and abroad, the arrangement of photo exhibitions, the producing
and showing documentary films, the coordination of youth propaganda
actions, as well as running of the Internet sites.
Aliev Foundation was established on May 10, 2004 in Baku and it
consists of the following departments which have their subdivisions:
The humanities programmes:
Culture and Tourism Social policy Education, Youth and Sport.
International relations department:
Relations with the international organizations Relations with the
CIS countries Relations with foreign states.
Public relation department:
Relations with legal entities and natural persons Relations with mass
media Functional department:
Head department Analytical and informational department Propaganda
and research department Security department Human resources department
Economic department Protocol department As we can see the Foundation
manifests itself as the main institution engaged in scientific and
cultural activity which aim is, e.g. the advertisement connected with
the Azerbaijani origin of mughams, the implementation and financing
of cultural, youth and sport programmes.
Meanwhile the priority direction in the activity of Aliev Foundation
is anti-Armenian propaganda on local, regional and international
levels. That propaganda is comprehensive and it works almost in all
the possible directions, including political, economic, historical and
cultural, spiritual, educational, information spheres. The Foundation
aspires to attach anti-Armenian nature to any process going on in
Azerbaijan or abroad. This structure implements rather important from
the point of view of Azerbaijani information policy function – in a
centralized mode it finances, directs and controls the organizations
and private individuals who carry out anti-Armenian policy in the
country and abroad.
In the spotlight of the Foundation is the representation of Armenia
and the Armenians in the context of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as
"state and nation carrying out aggressive, violent, expansionist
policy", which among others, perpetrated "Khodjalu genocide", and etc.
The efforts of that structure are especially directed to the
fabrication and disseminating of "Khodjalu genocide" myth in wide
audience using all the possible information channels and international
relations. In this regard the Foundation implements large-scale
activities among which the following can be mentioned:
"The anniversary of Khodjalu genocide" is commemorated in Azerbaijani
embassies and consulates in 50 countries all over the world.
Various events are arranged in the capitals or big cities in different
countries devoted to the "Khodjalu genocide" (e.g. Washington, New
York, London, Dubai, Kiev, Moscow, Warsaw, Strasbourg, Paris, Ankara,
Istanbul, Tbilisi and Bucharest).
The film "Khodjalu genocide" was produced, the exhibition "Khodjalu
through the eyes of children" was arranged for which the pictures
were prepared by the Azerbaijani pupils who were impressed by the
state propaganda disseminating hatred towards Armenians in their
school textbooks.
The publication of various propagandist books is financed by the
Foundation. Among them "War against Azerbaijan: Targeting Cultural
Heritage" book published in English and intended for the foreign
public. In such books Azerbaijan is presented as an "ancient nation
with cultural heritage of worldwide importance" against which Armenia
"perpetrates war".
The structure publishes and disseminates anti-Armenian brochures with
hundred of thousand number of copies. Their main subjects are "Karabakh
history", "Khodjalu genocide", "Reasons for Karabakh conflict", "The
consequences of Armenian aggression", "Activity of Armenian terrorist
organizations against Azerbaijan" and etc. In those brochures all the
issues connected with the NKR are presented to the prejudice of the
RA and NKR and in favour of Azerbaijan which from informational point
of view is very efficient and can damage the international image of
the Armenian party. Such publications are aimed at wide international
audience and they are being published in English, German, French,
Russian and Hungarian and spread in different countries. Many of
Azerbaijanis take those brochures with them to the international
conferences and spread among the foreign participants.
As we can see Heydar Aliyev Foundation has a special and rather
significant place in the information war against the RA and NKR.