Yeni Azerbaijan
Yeni Azerbaijan, translated as “New Azerbaijan”, is the official newspaper of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. Established in 1992 by Heydar Aliyev, the father of the current president, the party has retained an unbroken grip on power ever since, with the newspaper functioning as one of its principal communication channels.
Media assets
Publishing: Yeni Azerbaijan
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
Yeni Azerbaijan is formally managed and published under the auspices of the New Azerbaijan Party. Given the party’s entrenched position in the country’s political life, and the near-total fusion between the ruling party and the state, the paper can in practice be regarded as a state-run outlet rather than a mere party organ. Its governance is tightly controlled by senior party functionaries, leaving no room for institutional autonomy.
Source of funding and budget
The financial situation of Yeni Azerbaijan remains opaque. Official budgetary lines are rarely disclosed, and there is no transparent accounting of revenues or expenditures. Nonetheless, according to journalists and analysts monitoring Azerbaijan, including those interviewed for this report in March 2024, the paper is fully subsidized by the government, with no evident commercial revenue streams. Its continued existence depends on state largesse rather than market viability.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence is virtually non-existent. Yeni Azerbaijan consistently and openly promotes the policies of President Ilham Aliyev and the ruling party, functioning less as a journalistic enterprise and more as a vehicle of political communication. Azeri journalists and experts interviewed for this report in March 2024 confirm that the newspaper uncritically echoes government positions.
No domestic legislation, independent evaluation, or oversight mechanism has been identified that would safeguard or even assess the editorial autonomy of Yeni Azerbaijan. In practice, the newspaper is emblematic of the wider capture of the country’s media environment by ruling elites.
August 2025