The main purpose of creating the Azerbaijan Telegraph Agency was to provide state institutions of ADR with information received from Europe, Asia and America, as well as press agencies and public organisations, bringing the information policy of the new state to the public.

The founding of Azerbaijan Telegraph Agency was discussed at a session of the Council of Ministers of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on 3 March 1919. The session heard from chairman of the Council of Ministers Fatali Khan Khoyski, and the task of establishing the agency was entrusted to Minister of Enlightenment Nasib bay Usubbeyli. This task was later entrusted to the Ministry of Posts and Telegraph. A draft law on the founding of AZERTAC and the agency’s statute were drawn up in the second half of 1919. However, from the first day of its activity, the agency faced technical difficulties. The proper functioning of the agency, the reception and transmission of information depended directly on radio technology. Thus, the decision was changed and the question of the organisation of the agency was put on the back burner. The task of organising the agency was transferred from the Ministry of Public Education to the Ministry of Post and Telegraph.

On 2 February 1920 a draft staff plan and statute of the agency were discussed at a session of the government and then submitted to the parliament.

The first national news agency, the Telegraph Agency, was founded on 1 March 1920 by the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The agency published its first news on 2 March. The agency operated independently for only 58 days, however, it managed to inscribe its name in history even in such a short time.

Although AZERTAC was formally independent in the first months when the Soviet Union was established, in fact, the agency was made a branch of the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA).

On 9 June 1920, Nariman Narimanov signed an order establishing Azerbaijan Central Press Authority, with the agency included in it as AzKavRosta. The organisation was headed by S.Y. Bogdatiyev, a communist and ROSTA commissioner in the Caucasus. The chairman of the board, the well-known journalist Aghababa Yusifzadeh played a crucial role in organizing information  model of work in the agency.

The activity of AzKavROSTA, the new successor of AZERTAC, was not limited to Baku; its branches and stations also operated in other cities of the republic (Ganja, Shusha, Lankaran, etc.). They prepared information on local events and, using their internal resources, issued news bulletins and propaganda posters.

In 1921, the agency was reorganised on the basis of AzKavROSTA. In August of the same year the name was changed to AzerTA. After reorganisation of AzerTA, on 14 July, Qubad Qasimov, a prominent researcher of the history of Azerbaijan’s musical culture, was appointed as the agency’s director.

With the establishment of the USSR in 1922 AzerTA was made a branch of the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS). The establishment of the Transcaucasian Federation in March of 1923 saw news agencies of three South Caucasus republics merge into ZaqTA. In 1936, AzerTA again became an independent news agency.

National leader Heydar Aliyev’s coming to political power in Azerbaijan in 1969 marked the beginning of the revival of all spheres of the republic’s life. The national news agency, then called Azerinform, also entered a new stage of its development. Due to Heydar Aliyev the agency was one of the first in the Union to be supplied with state-of-the-art computers and equipped with the most modern technical equipment of that time. It restored the status of the official information agency AZERTAC, improved its activity and strengthened its positions.

In 1991, when the Republic of Azerbaijan regained state independence for the second time, the agency was given back its historical name on 18 December 1992. In the first years of independence, AZERTAC faced serious problems, and the agency’s transition to economic calculation created serious economic difficulties. Heydar Aliyev’s return to political power in Azerbaijan in 1993 opened wide opportunities for AZERTAC’s activities. Due to the decrees and orders signed by the President of Azerbaijan, the Agency was taken under the control of the state, and very serious measures were taken to improve its activity, as well as to strengthen its material and technical base. For the first time, correspondent offices of AZERTAC were opened in foreign countries.

Thus, the name of AZERTAC was changed 8 times during its 96-year activity. From 3 March 1995 it became the State Telegraph Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers, and from 17 January 2000 – the Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency. On 26 February 2015, president Ilham Aliyev signed an order to rename Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency to the Azerbaijan State Information Agency (AZERTAC).

AZERTAC has also signed cooperation agreements with about 50 leading news agencies and conducts information exchanges with about 150 agencies. Among them are TASS (Russia), Xinhua (China), Anadolu (Turkey), IRNA (Iran), ANSA (Italy), KYODO (Japan), Yonhap (Republic of Korea), TELAM (Argentina), SPA (Saudi Arabia), Ukrinform (Ukraine), BELTA (Belarus), Kazinform (Kazakhstan), Moldpress (Moldova), ATA (Albania), MTI (Hungary), MENA (Egypt), PETRA (Jordan), Antara (Indonesia), Montsame (Mongolia) and other authoritative news TV channels.

AZERTAC closely cooperates with the Associated Press, Reuters, Press Association and DPA. The agency is an active member the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). AZERTAC held the presidency of both News Agencies World Congress and Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies for 2016-2019, a three-year term. In 2016, Baku simultaneously hosted the main forums of two leading media organizations – the Fifth News Agencies World Congress and the 16th General Assembly of OANA. Thus, Azerbaijan and AZERTAC have inscribed their name in the history of the world media.

AZERTAC has 22 correspondents in 21 countries. In total, correspondent stations cover 65 countries. AZERTAC is a member of 11 international and regional organizations and information platforms: Alliance of Turkic News Agencies – ATNA, Union of OIC News Agencies – UNA, News Agencies World Congress –  NAWC, News Agencies World Council – NACO, European Alliance of News Agencies – EANA, Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies – OANA, Association of National News Agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States – ANIA, the Black Sea Association of National News Agencies – BSANNA, Council of Heads of State News Agencies of the CIS Countries, Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership and PNN Information Exchange Network.

AZERTAC circulates news about events taking place in the country and the world in seven foreign languages – Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. About 300 news items are published in foreign languages every day. At the same time, video information is prepared in four languages – Russian, English, German and French.

Recommended literature:

1. Aslanov, Aslan Əhməd oğlu. AzərTAc-dan AzərTAc-a : mürəkkəb və şərəfli yol = From AzerTAc to AzerTAc : difficult and glorious path = От АзерТАдж до АзерТАдж : сложный и славный путь / A. Ə. Aslanov, V. Musayev, D. M. İsmayılov ; tərc. F. Ağazadə [et al.] ; red. E. Əliyeva [et al.]. - Bakı : Şərq-Qərb, 2008. - 184 s.
2. AzərTac - 90 / Azərbaycan Dövlət Teleqraf Agentliyi ; tərt. A. M. Aslanov ; tərc. O. Məmmədov [et al.] ; red.: D. M. İsmayılov, T. Nuriyeva, F. Ağazadə. - Bakı : Şərq-Qərb, 2011. - 350 s.
3. Aslanov, Aslan Əhməd oğlu. Müasir dünyanın informasiya şəbəkəsində AzərTac-ın yeri : təşəkkül tarixi və inkişaf mərhələləri: monoqrafiya / A. Ə. Aslanov ; elmi red. Y. M. Mahmudov ; ön sözün müəl. Ə. M. Həsənov ; AMEA A.A. Bakıxanov adına Tarix İnstitutu. - Bakı : Şərq-Qərb, 2011. - 232 s.
4. Aslanov, Aslan Əhməd oğlu. Heydər Əliyev və AzərTAc / A. Ə. Aslanov ; red.: V. Musayev, D. M. İsmayılov. - Bakı : Nurlan, 2005. - 178 s.