News conference of Vice President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva held at ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia

On the eve of the presentation of publication of ‘Baku’ magazine`s English edition ‘Baku International’ in Great Britain, news conference of Vice President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Leyla Aliyeva was held at ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia.

Opening the press conference, First Deputy Director General of ITAR-TASS News Agency Mikhail Gusman said a public-political magazine titled Baku has been published in Moscow for several years. The magazine is very popular and enjoys a lot of readers. The launch issue of the magazine’s English edition has recently been published in London.

In the new conference, Leyla Aliyeva said: ‘The Russian version of this magazine was published in Russia 4 years ago. In that magazine we talk about our country, about its culture and art. Since then, I was dreaming so much to release the international version of the magazine. ‘Baku’ magazine was created in English along with Condé Nast Publishing House on October 4. Now, this magazine will be available not in Baku and Moscow only, but also in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, New York and some other cities.’

L.Aliyeva said: ‘Many already know the Russian version of the magazine. This version tells about the rich culture of Azerbaijan, its ancient history, about the amazing nature and, most importantly, about people - famous Azerbaijani artists, writers and just Azerbaijanis who live around the world. We talk about residents of Baku, about those who are interested in Baku, who love Baku, who can share views with others. I hope the English version of the magazine is as successful as the Russian version. We made a creative approach to this version too. There are a lot of materials here about art, fashion and interesting persons. The magazine will be published 4 times a year and I hope it will be successful.’

Mrs Aliyeva said Azerbaijan is well known in Russia and those reading ‘Baku’ magazine know what they buy. The Chief Editor said: ‘The situation concerning the English version is a bit different. We had to do so that this magazine could be interesting just for foreigners. So, we decided to be creative in this issue and launched a new project. Beginning from the magazine’s cover and content we have tried to create something new. To me, this is not just a magazine, but a kind of art.’

L.Aliyeva said she wants to present the magazine all over the world. ‘The first presentation took place October 4 in London. The magazine will be presented at the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow tomorrow and in Baku November 17. Presentation ceremonies will also be held in New York, Berlin and Paris. Of course, it must be presented everywhere. Regarding the publication in other languages, we will not be in a hurry, as we have spent 4 years to develop the English version. It surely would be easy if we just translated that. But this is quite a new concept, new approach and different audience’, noted the Chief Editor of the magazine.

Leyla Aliyeva underlined the publication aims to not involve tourists, but to talk about and show Baku’s history, culture, art, beauty. She said: ‘To me, Baku is the source of pride and I would like others also to see how Baku is beautiful. I think it will contribute to the development of tourism too. But not only the magazine, all successes and achievements of our country contribute to this.’

The Heydar Aliyev Foundation VP informed of the development of the new publication and successful cooperation with Condé Nast. She said when the magazine was published in Russian and we wanted to distribute it across the globe, many were not understanding it and just seeing the pictures in the magazine. ‘The key goal was to have the magazine in other countries and provide much more to people about Azerbaijan. Dealing with the magazine’s publication is very interesting. The magazine gives me a huge pleasure, because this job demands a very creative approach. Of course, I have a nice team, we listen to each other, I rely on their experience, and at the same time I try to give a lot of ideas. I enjoy publishing this magazine.’

Mrs Leyla Aliyeva said: ‘The English version is much more related to art, artists. This magazine contains very interesting article about a new artist called Brainwash. Many are interested in him in London. For this reason, we created a project, and the artist created a special work for ‘Baku’ magazine. We plan to involve interesting, well-known artists in the future too. At the moment, Rich Simons is in Baku, working on the projects. Every issue of the magazine will be dedicated to a certain subject. The launch issue is about fire. The next one will be devoted to the color of white. We plan to find 4 artists from Baku for every issue. They will create art projects on the modern art specially for this issue. We have a lot of gifted photographers. For instance, Tom Craig and Mary Fellows, who has done the fashion shooting. I am very pleased of my team, as they immediately get the idea, think the same and have a creative approach to all these works. Even I have a job in this magazine.’

Answering the question on the attitude of Azerbaijanis to the magazine, L.Aliyeva said she hopes they like it. Because many apply to us and we send a magazine to all them. They may read and distribute those magazines.

Replying to the question about holding the presentation of the magazine’s English version on the eve of Eurovision to be held in Azerbaijan, Leyla Aliyeva said: ‘That month we will try to dedicate the Russian edition of the magazine specially to Eurovision. It will be a special edition. We are going to have a creative approach to that edition too, maybe to change the magazine’s cover, design and develop the whole issue so that people coming to Azerbaijan, to Eurovision have all necessary information about where to go, how to spend their time. It will be a kind of guide publication about Azerbaijan, but that issue will be released on the eve of Eurovision.’

Chief Editor Leyla Aliyeva stressed the major goal of the magazine is to talk about people. She said: ‘I have learned a lot about residents of Baku living across the world. We find such people and talk about them. It does not matter if they are famous or not. They may be the most ordinary people. These people have own life story and are ready to share it. I guess, just this way the magazine will help people come together and learn about each other.