On July 21, President Ilham Aliyev issued an order on allocation of a lump-sum financial aid to newspapers published in Azerbaijan on the occasion of National Press day. According to the order issued, one million manat has been allocated from President’s Reserve Fund envisaged in the 2016 state budget to the Fund of State Support for the Development of Mass Media in order to provide a one-time financial aid to newspapers published in Azerbaijan.

The text of the Draft Referendum Act on “Making changes to the Constitution of Azerbaijan Republic” submitted by the order of President Ilham Aliyev to the Constitutional Court for feedback has been made public. According to the proposed amendments, for prejudicing human rights and freedoms, civil servants will bear only civil responsibility. The main notable amendment is removal of the presidency age limit from the Constitution and extension

     Ali Hasanov, the President’s Aide on sociopolitical affairs, has stated that new restrictive measures may be imposed on Internet activity, which he said were ‘justified by rumors spread by the online media about the actions in the regions.’   “Online media in Azerbaijan spreads rumors, non-objective and even provocative materials on every little issue, from the incidents occurring in the conflict zone to any local