Correspondent of “Yeni Azerbaycan” newspaper gave half of her son’s first salary as a present to a juvenile boy-mine survivor<br /> IEPF, Baku, 05 Aug 2008 – Today International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) jointly with Azerbaijan Mine Victims Association (AMVA) held a conference on “Mine survivors: needs, problems and objectives” at the conference hall of the Institute of Human Rights, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Umud Rahimoglu, Chairman of the IEPF opening the meeting informed participants that they will hear the report on the projects related to mine survivors that were implemented with the financial support of U.S. Department of State; presentation of a book devoted to mine survivors and announcing of winners of the mine issue contest. He briefly informed the participants on the core necessity of the IEPF’s establishment and talked about how the IEPF had joined the mine action program since 2000: “Last years considerable activities were carried out in both mine clearance and mine needs assessment directions under the umbrella of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action.
IEPF had also joined the mine action program since 2000. IEPF continuously conducts projects on mine action, surveying and resolving the mine survivors’ problems”.
Siyab Mammadli, Head of Program Department, IEPF, informed the participants about ongoing and implemented projects of the Fund. He stated: “IEPF has already implemented the project “Establishing and Functioning of Mine Victims Association in Terter District of Azerbaijan” (2006-2007) by the financial support of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA). In March 2007 as a result of this project the Azerbaijan Mine Victims Association (AMVA) was established by the IEPF and has since been registered. From July 2007 to July 2008, IEPF had implemented the projects “Establishing of the Fuzuli Regional Branch and Directing the Activity of Terter Regional Branch of AMVA” and “Establishing of the Aghstafa Regional Branch of AMVA and Directing its Activity”.
Thereafter, a discussion was held on the given topic after S.Mammadli’s presentation. Shalala Hasanova, Head of the Information Service at the State Committee on Securities, Aziz Aliyev, Head of Information Department of ANAMA, Rauf Zeyni, President of the National NGO Forum, Fuzuli Rzaquliyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Patriotic War Veterans’ Union, Elchin Mammad, journalist-participant of the mine issue contest expressed their points of view on the event. They highly appreciated the IEPF’s activities in this field.
Azer Hasret, Head of Department, IEPF, presented the book “These are their fates” based on the materials collected during the implementation of the above mentioned projects. He noted that the book reflects mine survivors’ lives and the tragedies they face: “We all should read this book to understand the sense of the problems. The book reflects only small episodes of 27 mine survivors lives. These are very short but very serious sad nuances of their lives. For me, each healthy man should learn from these persons how to be strong-willed and great survivors”.
Rey Karimoglu, Collaborator of the Fund spoke about the contest on journalist investigation and reporting on “Mine survivors’ lives, their tragedies and problems” organized by the International Eurasia Press Fund and the Azerbaijan Mine Victims Association. He stated: “Journalists were deeply interested in this contest from the beginning. Till the last day of the contest – July 20, various journalists published 20 articles in different newspapers. We do regret that 4 out of these articles didn’t meet the requirements of the contest and only 16 ones were accepted for reviewing. Active journalists from the leading daily and weekly newspapers participated in the contest. On July 16, Board of Jury met to define the winners of the contest for the last time. The winners were defined through cumulative points given by each jury member at the last meeting”. He noted that the judges evaluated the articles based on 1-10 points schedule for relevance, comprehensiveness and professionalism
The IEPF and AMVA awarded the journalists with unanticipated gifts: “As announced previously, the winners of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places would be awarded. But later taking into account the active participation of journalists in the contest the IEPF and AMVA authority decided to make changes in the procedure. It was decided, not to change the award amount, but also to select two and three journalists respectively for the 2nd and 3rd places”.
The winners were presented with various awards. Here is the list and the awards of winners of the mine issue contest on “Mine survivors: needs, problems and objectives” organized by the IEPF jointly with the AMVA below:
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One 1st place: Elshad Pashasoy, “Yeni Musavat” newspaper – Diploma and US250$
Two 2nd places: Lale Musaqizi, “Merkez” newspaper and Rashad Suleymanov, “Ekspress” newspaper – diploma and US150$ to each journalist
Three 3rd places: Aynur Elgunesh, “Bizim Yol” newspaper, Seymur Verdizade of “Reytinq” newspaper and Melahet Rza of “Sharq” newspaper – diplomas and US100$ to each journalist
Bahar Rustemli, “Reytinq” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Kabuter Haqverdi, “Yeni Azerbaycan” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Elchin Mammadli, “Tezadlar” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Babek Jahandar, “Paritet” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Nizami Huseyn, “24 saat” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Khalid Vahidoglu, “Uch noqte” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Ali Rzaqulu, “Resmi Baki” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Isa Musa, “Veten sesi” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Mammadrza Qulu, “Veten ugrunda” newspaper – diploma and a watch
Eyyub Mammad, “525-ci qezet” newspaper – diploma and a watch
At the end of the meeting Aflatun Amashov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Press Council made a speech. He stressed the importance of the activities carried out by the IEPF and wished the Fund successes in its future perspectives. Kabuter Haqverdi, journalist of “Yeni Azerbaycan” newspaper made a commendable step as a mother whose act can be a lesson to authoritative and rich men. She said that she was going to give half of her son’s first salary as a present to Bakhtiyar Aliyev – a juvenile boy-mine survivor.
Nate Reynolds and Behruz Mammadov, representatives of US Embassy to Azerbaijan, Nicat Karimov, representative of UNHCR, Elchin Qadim, representative of the State Committee on Refugees/IDPs Issues, Mugalib Mahmud, representative of Ombudsman Office, heads and representatives of NGOs and journalist organizations were among the participants of the event.
Note: Articles submitted to the contest are posted (in Azerbaijani) on the IEPF web site: link “Müsabiqə” (Contest).