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BROTHERS-IN-ARMS?
Turkey has always been the strategical partner of Azerbaijan, the people of both countries being of Turkic race, sharing similar histories, cultures, religions and traditions. During President Heydar Aliyev's visit to Turkey last year, he was assured of Turkey's support against any further aggression from Armenia. Indeed, Azerbaijan and Turkey are seen as 'brothers-in-arms'. Since Azerbaijan's independence, many Turkish companies have invested in Azerbaijan's economy and are enjoying success and prosperity in
this country. Many of them inject wealth back into the Azerbaijan economy by sponsorships, contributions and further investment in the future of Azerbaijan. One such company is Azercell.
No. ONE GSM OPERATOR
Azercell is the largest and most successful mobile phone operator in Azerbaijan, providing its clients with a number of up-to-date, efficient and high quality services. More recently, they have improved their facilities to cater for their foreign clients by ensuring that their staff speaks English and implementing fast and effective administration services. Indeed, one can find little fault with Azercell's service and facilities. However, a very recent incident took place that, in our opinion, knocked Azercell off it's pedestal of supremacy. It was an incident that made us question Azercell's support of Azerbaijan and it's loyalty toward a fellow Turkic nation from which it is, without doubt, making substantial profit.
JUST SAY 'NO'!
As you, our readers, know, Azerbaijan Today is steered toward promoting Azerbaijan in all its facets, good and bad. We try to provide honest and objective articles while maintaining a high level of integrity and professionalism. When we approach companies for their support by means of advertising, which is our only form of income, we treat those companies with respect and honesty and the least we expect from them is the same treatment. We understand if a company does not wish to advertise and we respect that decision. We also appreciate being told why that decision has been made as it helps us to understand our customers and readers' demands and requirements so that we can improve and adjust as necessary.
FALSE PROMISES
Long before our last issue went to print, we approached Azercell's Corporate Communication Expert, Gulshan Gasimova, to enquire whether they would be interested in placing an advertisement in our magazine. Ms. Gasimova reacted positively to our magazine and called us the next day to request that we prepare a letter for Azercell's General Manager, Ms. Esra Tan. She informed us that if Ms. Tan agreed to place an advertisement in our next issue, she would contact the Ministry of Communication for their confirmation. We prepared the letter and sent it to Azercell.Two days later, Ms. Gasimova informed us that Ms. Tan and the Ministry of Communication had both given their consent to advertise in our next issue. We were told that once the Sales and Marketing Department Manager, Oben Konyalioglu, returned to Baku, we would be provided with the advertisement material.
THE WAITING GAME
Because the advertisment had been guaranteed, we postponed our publication date while we waited seven days for the return of Oben Konyalioglu. During these seven days, we contacted Azercell's Public Relations Manager, Ulviyya Mirkasimova to enquire whether she could speed up the delivery of the advertising material but were again told to wait for Oben Konyalioglu's return.When Oben Konyalioglu finally returned, we attempted to contact him for five days but were unsuccessful on each occasion, being told that he was too busy. He did not even have the decency or respect to return our calls. We were appalled by this behaviour and obvious avoidance - after all, how long does it take to pick up the phone and speak for a few minutes? After waiting a further 20 days, we wrote to Azercell's General Manager, Esra Tan, to find out the reason for the long delay. It took Ms. Tan no less than two days to refute, in writing, her previous confirmation that Azercell would indeed be placing an advertisement!!! This denial, when it had already been confirmed, not only by Azercell, but also by the Ministry of Communication!!Then, to add insult to injury, Oben Konyalioglu himself finally called us the following day to demand in a very rude and abusive manner, what business we wanted with Azercell!!! Is this, we ask ourselves, how Oben Konyalioglu would treat the English or American press? Would any Azeri company behave the same way in Turkey? And the most important question: WHY?
TACTLESS & UNPROFESSIONAL
Why weren't Azercell's representatives honest with us from the beginning, telling us in a polite and friendly manner 'no'? Were they afraid? Was there an internal disagreement? Was there an administrative hiccough? This incident boils down to a clear case of deception. Surely the most important function of any professional company is to ensure good public relations, implement tact and diplomacy, and to respect another company that is trying to carry out an honest living. As far as we are concerned, Azercell has failed on all counts!Azerbaijan Today took Azercell's confirmation on trust and because of their assumed eagerness to advertise, we delayed our publication deadline in order to enable them to provide us with their advertising material. In the world of journalism, adhering to strict deadlines is vital - we made an exception in this instance for the benefit of Azercell, only to be let down by them at the last minute.
HONESTY...PLEASE!
A word of warning: all we demand is honesty. We appreciate that not every company may want to advertise and we can only learn, improve and adjust by knowing why a company chooses not to advertise. If a company does not wish to advertise, a simple, honest 'no' will suffice, without abusive and aggressive tones, without false promises, without unnecessary delays. Everybody understands 'no' but who can understand such ridiculous and pointless hoodwinking?
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