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Azerbaijan prevents using distorted maps of occupied territories

23 October 2020 14:55 (UTC +04:00)

The Cabinet of Ministers (CM) of the Republic of Azerbaijan continues to work to prevent cases of using distorted maps of the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, the press service of CM told APA.

Distortions in connection with the territories occupied by Armenia were revealed on the maps posted on the websites of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, foreign companies, and other organizations, and as a result of work conducted with these organizations, the use of distorted maps was stopped. Within the framework of the measures taken, references to the illegal regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan were removed from certain maps, and writing of the names of many of Azerbaijani settlements, including Shusha and Khankendi, were provided in the correct form.

In order to facilitate measures to ensure the correct indication of the territories of Azerbaijan and to prevent possible distortions, by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 20, 2020, "an Action Plan was approved to prevent the use of distorted maps of the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia".

In accordance with the Action Plan, under the leadership of the Cabinet of Ministers, intensive work is underway to develop electronic maps (digital, interactive, and high-precision) that meet international standards, with the correct indication of the geographical names of Azerbaijan, create an alternative platform (Internet resource) for integration into international platforms, the development of a policy for the formation of open national data, the establishment of relations with organizations that create maps, the creation of an electronic database - based on the national transliteration standard (accurate transmission of the characters of one script by characters of another script) - reflecting the geographical names of our country in different languages, the involvement of youth and diaspora organizations to work to eliminate distortions in maps posted on Internet platforms.

As part of the measures taken, special attention is paid to strengthening the role of youth and volunteer organizations, students studying at local and foreign universities, in preventing cases of distortion of Azerbaijani place names in the occupied territories on maps distributed on Internet platforms, as well as in the more active promotion of Azerbaijani realities in social networks and Internet sites. For this purpose, working groups have been created, measures are regularly taken to file complaints with international platforms and to organize protests on social networks in connection with cases of distortion.

Through our diplomatic missions and diaspora organizations abroad, successful steps are being taken to prevent the use of maps and other materials that distort the territory of Azerbaijan at events held in other countries and to educate organizers on this issue.

In addition, on the basis of the GIS (Geographic Information System) software, a corresponding electronic database has been created that reflects information about the boundaries of administrative districts, names and boundaries of cities, regional centers, and other settlements, and street names. Efforts are underway - with the involvement of private sector representatives - to transform the GIS database into an open data format.

In the original version in Russian and English, the names of 4590 cities, districts, settlements, villages, and administrative-territorial units throughout the republic were prepared.

Urgent measures are also being taken to strengthen control over the import of visual aids into the country (including books, notebooks, globes, magazines, newspapers, brochures, paper, and electronic media), reflecting false information about the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and to eliminate the identified cases.

Work to prevent distorted references to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan will continue.