The International workshop “Women's representation in media” was held in Ankara

The International workshop "Women's representation in media" was held in Ankara on February 28, 2025 with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and with the organization of the Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkiye (RTÜK). The Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan was represented at the event by Hashim Alimammadzade, Assistant to the Chairman and Torakhanim Zeynalli, Leading Advisor of the Department of Law and International Cooperation.

The event was attended by Turkish government officials, women's rights activists, scientists, educators, cultural and artistic figures, civil society and media representatives. The event highlighted the important role of the media in combating violence against women.

At the beginning of the event, the speech of Emine Erdogan, First Lady of the Republic of Turkiye, was read out. The speech emphasized that a new language based on ethical principles and followed by national values ​​and women's representation in the media will contribute to solving problems in society. In his speech, RTÜK Chairman Abubakr Shahin noted that the media's duty is to eradicate stereotypes about women and portray them as confident, successful, brave and strong. He added that regular consultations and cooperation with media institutions and broadcasting organizations are successfully continuing for this purpose.

Then, topics related women's rights were discussed by more than 150 representatives from Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Albania, Serbia and Greece. The role of media policy in protecting women's rights in different countries, the impact of cultural barriers on women's representation in media, the importance of international cooperation to create a gender-balanced media environment and ways to combat violence against women were discussed around 8 different roundtables.

Hashim Alimammadzade, Assistant to the Chairman of the Audiovisual Council, spoke about the activities carried out in Azerbaijan to ensure women's rights, gender equality and women's representation in the media, drew attention to the restrictions and regulatory mechanisms applied by the Audiovisual Council against some violations in this field and noted that close cooperation was being carried out with audiovisual media entities on the mentioned topics. Torakhanim Zeynalli, Leading Advisor of the Department of Law and International Cooperation, stated that women are successfully represented in the media in Azerbaijan and emphasized that mutual cooperation between the media and relevant state authorities in the field of women's rights protection has a positive impact on the prevention of violence against women.