AZƏRTAC

What is AZƏRTAC?

AZƏRTAC is the state news agency of Azerbaijan. Its own English-language account gives the name as the “Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC)” and states that it was “reorganized into a public legal entity” on 24 November 2016, with its statute “officially approved” in December 2017.^[1] The same account states that a presidential decree of 26 February 2015 gave the agency that name.^[1] Those are the agency's claims about itself and are reported here as such.

The statutory frame around all Azerbaijani outlets is newer. The Media Agentliyi — the Media Development Agency — publishes the text of the Law on Media, dated on its site 8 February 2022, whose article 12 provides that a media outlet's editorial logotype “Media Reyestrinə daxil edilir”, is entered in the Media Register.^[2] The register itself is described by the agency as an electronic information system established under article 73.1 of that law, systematising data on media entities, their editorial offices and journalists, and reachable at reyestr.media.gov.az.^[3]

Reporters Without Borders publishes a country entry for Azerbaijan in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, in which Azerbaijan is ranked 171st of 180 with a score of 23.95. Its media-landscape text opens: “Virtually the entire media sector is under official control, and state-owned television is the most popular information source.” That is RSF's characterisation, quoted and attributed, and nothing is inferred from it about any individual outlet.^[4]

What does AZƏRTAC cover?

The agency states that it provides “round-the-clock news” covering “all spheres of life in Azerbaijan, including politics, economy, culture, sports, health, environment”, that it operates “correspondent offices in more than 20 countries”, and that it publishes in Azerbaijani, English, Russian, French, German, Arabic, Chinese and Spanish.^[1] Its own front page describes the service as “News from Azerbaijan and around the world”.^[5]

Its sports output is both event reporting and documentary. On 23 May 2017 the agency reported the closing ceremony of the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games at the Baku Olympic Stadium, giving the dates “12 to 22 May 2017”, athletes from “more than 50 Islamic countries”, “20 different sports” across “24 disciplines”, and an Azerbaijani return of “161 medals, including 75 golds, 50 silvers and 36 bronzes”; the same report gives two figures for the field, “more than 3,000 athletes” and “A total of 2,800 athletes from four continents”.^[6] On 8 December 2017 it reported that the UEFA Executive Committee, meeting in Nyon, had allocated Baku the Group A matches of UEFA EURO 2020.^[7] It also carries the texts of legislation: it published the text of the law “Bədən tərbiyəsi və idman haqqında” on 29 August 2009.^[8]

How large is AZƏRTAC's audience?

No audited audience or circulation measurement for AZƏRTAC could be retrieved for this page, and no recognised Azerbaijani measurement currency for press or online readership was found publishing figures for it. Traffic estimators are not audited measurement and no estimate from one is given here.

What the agency publishes about its own reach is a claim about distribution rather than a measured audience: it states that it is “a member of over ten international and regional organizations”, that it “has signed cooperation agreements with news agencies in over 50 countries”, and that it maintains correspondent offices in more than twenty.^[1] Those figures are the agency's own and are attributed, not adopted.

The only third-party statement about reach retrieved here is RSF's, quoted above, that “state-owned television is the most popular information source” in Azerbaijan; RSF does not name AZƏRTAC in that sentence.^[4]

Since when has AZƏRTAC existed?

Founded, renamed and reorganised are three separate dates here and the agency's own account gives all three. It states that it was “Founded by the Government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on March 1, 1920”; that a presidential decree of 26 February 2015 renamed it the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC); that it was “reorganized into a public legal entity” on 24 November 2016; and that its statute was “officially approved” in December 2017.^[1]

Each of those is the agency's claim about its own history and no independent source carrying the 1920 date was retrieved for this page. The 2016 reorganisation and the 2017 statute are the dates that describe the legal person publishing today.^[1] The separate statutory register in which Azerbaijani media entities are recorded post-dates all of them, having been established under article 73.1 of the Law on Media whose text the Media Agency dates 8 February 2022.^[2][3]

Why does AZƏRTAC matter in Azerbaijan's sport?

Its position in sport is documentary. Where a governing body has taken a decision affecting Azerbaijan, the agency's report is often the dated record available in English: the UEFA Executive Committee's allocation of EURO 2020 Group A matches to Baku, reported 8 December 2017, is one such record.^[7] Its closing-ceremony report of 23 May 2017 supplies the participation and medal figures for the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games and names the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation as the organising body.^[6]

It also publishes the primary instruments themselves, including the text of the law on physical culture and sport on 29 August 2009 — the statute under which the National Olympic Committee and the state body are defined.^[8] Statements it makes about its own standing are attributed to it, and RSF's published characterisation of the Azerbaijani media sector is quoted rather than adopted.^[1][4]