The Translation Centre under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic (AzTC) is founded in accordance with Decree No. 2236 of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic, Ilham Aliyev, dated May 23, 2014. AzTC is an executive body, which centralizes translation work, manages socio-political, scientific, technical, literary and cultural ties from the point of view of language and translation, oversees the standard of translation in the republic and improves its quality.

AzTC structure:

Official Correspondence. The core functions of the department are centralizing, managing and overseeing the accuracy of the language and translation of the official correspondence, texts and material from the point of view of language and translation at both the local and international level. 

Education, Culture & Science. The core functions of the department are: managing
centralized translation in science, education, art and literature; overseeing the use of the Azerbaijani language in accordance with the established norms.

International Relations. – The core functions of the department are: shaping the mechanisms to promote Azerbaijani literature, scientific and cultural heritage worldwide; establishing contacts with leading language specialists, publishing houses, cultural centres and other related organizations across the world.

Publishing. The core functions of the department are: establishing contacts with leading publishing houses around the world; publishing Azerbaijani literature, scientific and cultural heritage in foreign languages and world literature in the Azerbaijani language.

The Scientific-Literary Board, functioning on a voluntary basis, approves thematic plans for the translation and publication of internationally significant literary and scientific works; conducts discussions on leading examples of world literature, scientific oeuvres, textbooks and manuals involving the language and education to be translated into Azerbaijani.   

The Expert Board, functioning on a voluntary basis, evaluates the quality of language and translation of texts and materials sent to AzTC and assesses the proficiency of all specialists at AzTC.

Khazar, world literature magazine, covers developments in modern world literature; translates and publishes leading literary works by world famous figures, and information about the authors' lives and work for Azerbaijani readers.

Aydin Yol, a weekly literary newspaper, translates and publishes leading literary works by world famous figures, and information about the authors' lives and work for Azerbaijani readers; focuses on language, literature and translation in the country, and the use of the Azerbaijani language in accordance with the norms and rules.


AzTC activities

From its inception – August 16, 2014, the Translation Centre under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan (AzTC) launched two websites already available to its users:    
•     AzTC website (www.aztc.gov.az )
•     Aydın yol newspaper wevsite (www.aydınyol.az )

On November 24, 2014, the first issues of Aydın Yol newspaper and Khazar World Literature magazine were published.

AzTC’s new publications will be serialized as “Books of the Translation Centre”. Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, My Life with Pablo Neruda by Matilde Urrutia are already published. In the near future AzTC is planning to publish books, such as Men Without Women by Ernest Miller Hemingway, Smiles of the Gods by Akutagawa, Ryunosuke, Novels and Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Followers of the Path to Salvation and World Poetry - Selections from Sufism etc.


Literary Translation Award (Prize) “Bay Leaf”

Azerbaijan Translation Centre under the Cabinet of Ministers (AzTC) has founded a Literary Translation Award (Prize) “Bay Leaf” to be held once every 2 years on prose and poetry translations into Azerbaijani.


A retrospective journey into the history of AzTC

The Azerbaijan Translation and Literary Correlations Centre was founded in accordance with Order No. 113, dated 6 March 1989, by the Soviet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic to translate the best examples of Soviet as well as world literature into the languages of the peoples of the USSR and other languages across the world.

The first Chair of the Centre was Aydin Mammadov, a notable Turkologist and Member of Parliament (MP), who died in a car accident in 1991. Afag Masud, writer and translator, ran the Centre from June 13, 1991.

The Centre pioneered the translation into Azerbaijani and publication of hundreds of works, from the Quran and Gospels to the work of famous writers from around the world, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, J. D. Salinger, Alexander Solzhenitsyn et al.

For more information on this release, please contact us at (+994 12) 595-10-69
or via email at info@aztc.gov.az.