{{Short description|Newspaper in Armenia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Azg'' (daily)}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Azg | logo = | image = File:Azg_(daily)_logo.png | caption = | type = daily | format = [[Paper size#A series|A3]]<ref>{{cite web|last1=Melikyan|first1=Ashot|title=Print Mass Media and News Agencies' Market|url=http://www.mediainitiatives.am/sites/default/files/Print%20Mass%20Media%20and%20News%20Agencies'%20Market_eng_0.pdf|publisher=Media Initiatives Center|accessdate=1 September 2014|location=Yerevan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033229/http://www.mediainitiatives.am/sites/default/files/Print%20Mass%20Media%20and%20News%20Agencies%27%20Market_eng_0.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> | owners = | founder = Hakob Avedikian | publisher = | president = | editor = | chief_editor = Hakob Avedikian | associate_editor = | managing_editor = | general_manager = | news_editor = | campus_editor = | campus_chief = | metro_editor = | metro_chief = | opinion_editor = | photo_editor = | staff_writers = | founded = 1991 | political_position = | language = Armenian | headquarters = Hanrapetutyan Street, Building 47, 3rd Floor, [[Yerevan]], Armenia | circulation = 3,000<ref name="esiweb">{{cite web|title=Armenia: Newspapers: Journalists/Columnists/Editors|url=http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=322&debate_ID=5&slide_ID=3|publisher=[[European Stability Initiative]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901032149/http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=322&debate_ID=5&slide_ID=3 |archivedate=1 September 2014 |url-status=live |accessdate=29 August 2016}}</ref> | circulation_date = 2009 | website = {{URL|https://azg.am}} }} '''''Azg''''' ({{langx|hy|Ազգ}}, "Nation") is a daily newspaper published in Yerevan, Armenia since 1991.<ref>{{cite web|title=Azg |url=http://www.ypc.am/Old/English/Collegues/pressclub/04.1999/3-15-3.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140901032058/http://www.ypc.am/Old/English/Collegues/pressclub/04.1999/3-15-3.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 September 2014 |publisher=Yerevan Press Club |accessdate=1 September 2014 }}</ref><ref name="esiweb"/> Its founder<ref name="esiweb"/> and editor-in-chief was the veteran Lebanese-born Ramkavar activist Hakob Avedikian.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hakobyan |first1=Tatul |title=Old Ramgavars join forces in Armenia |url=http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-07-02-old-ramgavars-join-forces-in-armenia |accessdate=3 August 2014 |work=[[The Armenian Reporter]] |date=2 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109190837/http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-07-02-old-ramgavars-join-forces-in-armenia |archivedate=9 November 2013 }}</ref> who in the 1980s had served as the editor-in-chief of the Ramgavar party's ''[[Zartonk (Lebanese daily)|Zartonk]]'' daily in Lebanon.<ref name="esiweb"/>
''Azg'' was prominent during the 1990s. Published by the [[Democratic Liberal Party of Armenia]] (Ramkavar-Azatakan) Party—financed from the [[Armenian diaspora]] party [[Armenian Democratic Liberal Party|ADL]]—its circulation regularly exceeded 30,000 by 1993,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Herzig|first1=Edmund|last2=Kurkchiyan|first2=Marina|title=Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity|date=2004|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781135798376|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B8WRAgAAQBAJ&dq=azg+regularly+exceed+30%2C00+copies&pg=PA187 187], [https://books.google.com/books?id=B8WRAgAAQBAJ&q=azg+of+the+opposition+ramkavar&pg=PA187 189]}}</ref> that increased to 42,000 the following year. According to [[Edik Baghdasaryan]], ''Azg'' served as "a good school for many journalists" during this period.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Krikorian|first1=Onnik|title=Q&A with Edik Baghdasarian|url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/qanda/articles/eav052702.shtml|accessdate=3 August 2014|work=Eurasia.Net|date=26 May 2002|archive-date=10 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810203131/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/qanda/articles/eav052702.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1996, the newspaper was temporarily suspended by the government of [[Levon Ter-Petrosyan]]. Its office was ransacked, and editors and journalists were beaten.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Payaslian|first1=Simon|authorlink1=Simon Payaslian|title=The Political Economy of Human Rights in Armenia: Authoritarianism and Democracy in a Former Soviet Republic|date=2011|publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]]|isbn=9780857731692|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nqv3AgAAQBAJ&q=suspended+Azg+%28Nation%29%2C+a+newspaper+published+by+the+diasporan+Ramkavar+Party&pg=PA167 168]}}</ref> The ownership of the newspaper was transferred to a newly split pro-government branch of the Ramkavar Party called Mission of the Ramgavar-Azatakan Party (MRAP), which was formed after a split in the ranks of the opposition Ramgavar-Azatakan Party. The founders of "Azg", who also own and publish the newspaper, consequently found themselves completely cut off from the newspaper. As well, the Ministry ordered the state-run printing house, Parberakan, to stop printing ''Azg'' until told otherwise. On 27 April 1996, a new eight-page newspaper, using the name and logo of ''Azg'', was printed by Parberakan, but without the participation of ''Azg'' editors, who disassociated themselves from the new version.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Reporters Without Borders|author-link=Reporters Without Borders|title=Ownership of independent newspaper "Azg" transferred to pro-government political party|url=http://www.ifex.org/armenia/1996/05/01/ownership_of_independent_newspaper/|publisher=[[IFEX (organization)|IFEX]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802000508/http://www.ifex.org/armenia/1996/05/01/ownership_of_independent_newspaper/|archivedate=2 August 2014 |date=1 May 1996}}</ref>
After Ter-Petrosyan's resignation as president, the newspaper was supportive of [[Robert Kocharyan]] who became president in 1998.<ref name="Freedom House"/> In 1999, it was described as Armenia's "most authoritative daily."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Azadian|first1=Edmond Y.|title=History on the Move: Views, Interviews and Essays on Armenian Issues|date=1999|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0814329160|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KGciVUhpzXUC&dq=azg+most+authoritative+daily&pg=PA177 117]}}</ref> Since 2012, the English version is not available anymore. The circulation of ''Azg'' dropped to 10,000 copies and later on to only 3,000 in 2003<ref name="Freedom House">{{cite web|author=Freedom House|author-link=Freedom House|title=Armenia 2004 Report|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2004/armenia|archiveurl=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20150414184943/https://freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2004/armenia|archivedate=14 April 2015}}</ref> and remained the same as of 2009.<ref name="esiweb"/>
Since 1999 ''Azg'' was available online at various times in six languages: Armenian, Russian, English, Turkish,<ref name="esiweb"/> Arabic and Persian. ''Azg'' also published a periodical cultural supplement called ''Azg-Mshaguyt'' (in [[Armenian language|Armenian]] Ազգ-Մշակույթ)
==See also== *[[List of newspapers in Armenia]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://azg.am Official website]
[[Category:Armenian Democratic Liberal Party]] [[Category:Newspapers published in Armenia]] [[Category:Armenian-language newspapers]] [[Category:1991 establishments in Armenia]]