Azg (daily)

Azg
Type daily
Format A3[1]
Founder(s) Hakob Avedikian
Editor-in-chief Hakob Avedikian
Founded 1991
Language Armenian
Headquarters Hanrapetutyan Street, Building 47, 3rd Floor, Yerevan, Armenia
Circulation 3,000[2] (as of 2009)
Website www.azg.am

Azg (Armenian: Ազգ, "Nation") is a daily newspaper published in Yerevan, Armenia since 1991.[3][2]

The newspaper was prominent during the 1990s. Published by the Democratic Liberal Party of Armenia (Ramkavar-Azatakan) Party—financed from the Armenian diaspora party ADL—its circulation regularly exceeded 30,000 by 1993.[4] According to Edik Baghdasaryan, Azg served as "a good school for many journalists" during this period.[5]

In 1996, the newspaper was temporarily suspended by the government of Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Its office was ransacked, and editors and journalists were beaten.[6] The ownership of the newspaper was transferred to a newly-split pro-government branch of the Ramkavar Party.[7] After Ter-Petrosyan’s resignation as president, the newspaper was supportive of Robert Kocharyan who became president in 1998.[8] In 1999, it was described as Armenia’s "most authoritative daily."[9] The circulation of Azg was 3,000 as of 2003[8] and remained the same as of 2009.[2]

Since 1999 Azg has been available online in four languages: Armenian, Russian, English, and Turkish.[2]

Its founder[2] and editor-in-chief is the veteran Lebanese-born Ramkavar activist Hakob Avedikian.[10] In the 1980s, he served as the editor-in-chief of Zartonk daily in Lebanon.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Melikyan, Ashot. "Print Mass Media and News Agencies' Market". Yerevan: Media Initiatives Center. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Armenia: Newspapers: Journalists/Columnists/Editors". European Stability Initiative. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Azg". Yerevan Press Club. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Herzig, Edmund; Kurkchiyan, Marina (2004). Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity. Routledge. pp. 187, 189. ISBN 9781135798376.
  5. ↑ Krikorian, Onnik (26 May 2002). "Q&A with Edik Baghdasarian". Eurasia.Net. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Payaslian, Simon (2011). The Political Economy of Human Rights in Armenia: Authoritarianism and Democracy in a Former Soviet Republic. I.B.Tauris. p. 168. ISBN 9780857731692.
  7. ↑ Reporters Without Borders (1 May 1996). "Ownership of independent newspaper "Azg" transferred to pro-government political party". IFEX. Archived from the original on 3 August 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Freedom House. "Armenia 2004 Report". Archived from the original on 3 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Azadian, Edmond Y. (1999). History on the Move: Views, Interviews and Essays on Armenian Issues. Wayne State University Press. p. 117. ISBN 0814329160.
  10. ↑ Hakobyan, Tatul (2 July 2009). "Old Ramgavars join forces in Armenia". The Armenian Reporter. Retrieved 3 August 2014.