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Turkic PR Experts Meet In Baku To Collaborate & Strategize

By Gunay Hajiyeva January 30, 2019

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Chairman of the Azerbaijan Public Relations Specialists Association (APRA) Ilham Mammadzade delivers a speech at the First Baku Forum of PR Specialists of Turkic-Speaking Countries / Trend News Agency

Azerbaijan’s capital city Baku hosted a forum for public relations (PR) specialists from Turkic-speaking countries on January 26, building a common platform for PR practitioners from countries stretching from Turkey to Kazakhstan.

“The main goal in holding this forum is to develop and to contribute to the PR sector both in Azerbaijan and in the region with exchanging expertise and sharing knowledge with professionals from Turkic-speaking countries in various field-related cases,” Ilham Mammadzade, the Chairman of Azerbaijan Public Relations Specialists Association (APRA), told Caspian News.

Over 200 PR professionals were in attendance, with speakers and panelists from the public and private sectors exploring ways to develop better cooperation in the PR field and how to leverage it for building modern-day societies.

PR associations from Azerbaijan and Turkey addressed modern trends and developments in the discipline, and the challenges facing PR practitioners. The event received an endorsement from the International Public Relations Association (IPRA).

“We expect that the first forum will help to bring the international expertise in the region, adapting it to local trends and putting it in action in both private and state-sponsored PR activities in Turkic-speaking countries,” Ilham Mammadzade said.

The forum’s agenda also included discussing ways to support better integration amongst Turkic-speaking countries, which include Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

“Azerbaijan plays a role of a locomotive in the integration of Turkic-speaking states. So, we decided to give momentum to this integration and to invigorate this process with such a forum,” Ilham Mammadzade added.

PR is the process of building and managing communications between a public or business entity, or an individual, and its various audiences, which typically include customers, employees, vendors, stockholders, influencers, media, government officials and other stakeholders. Specialists apply different strategies, such as media relations, sponsorships, internal communications, special events, tradeshows, social media and other platforms for communicating with the general public and various stakeholders.

Aziz Akhundov, Head of the PR and Corporate Communications at Nar, one of the leading mobile communication operators in Azerbaijan, says such forums are good to promote trademarks of Azerbaijan and help them go beyond the borders of the country.

“As a telecommunication operator with more than two million customers, Nar is very interested in contributing to the development of PR industry, so we supported the Baku PR Forum as its telecommunication partner. At the forum, there were presented PR projects and cases as well as new trends that I believe would inspire PR professionals to develop and realize projects for promoting both corporate brands and national trademarks such as ‘Made in Azerbaijan’ brand,” Aziz Akhundov told Caspian News.

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Over 200 PR professionals attended the First Baku Forum of PR Specialists from Turkic-Speaking Countries / Official Facebook page of Baku PR Forum 2019