site.btaAzerbaijani President Awards Medals to Editor-in-Chief of AKORD Magazine

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev awarded the Progress medal to the head of the Support for the Development of Azerbaijani-Bulgarian Friendship Public Association and Editor-in-Chief of AKORD magazine Maria Atanasova-Guseynova, she told BTA on Tuesday.

On the eve of March 8 Maria Atanasova-Guseynova was awarded by the Azerbaijan’s President with the Progress medal on the occasion of International Women's Day. The award was given for contribution to the public life of Azerbaijan. Later Atanasova-Guseynova sent a letter of thanks to Ilham Aliyev, which was published on the presidential administration official website.

Maria Atanasova-Guseynova was also awarded with a jubilee medal dedicated to the birth centenary of the Azerbaijan Independent State founder Heydar Aliyev. The medal was awarded on March 19 at a ceremony at Baku International Multiculturalism Centre.

"I am glad that my work is appreciated both in Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. I believe that my activity was appreciated by our President Ilham Aliyev. I am glad that I dedicated my life to my two homelands - the historical homeland, Bulgaria, and the homeland where I was born and grew up, Azerbaijan," Atanasova-Guseynova commented for BG World, a service of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

Maria Atanasova-Guseynova was born in Ganja, Azerbaijan, and learned Bulgarian from her grandmother. 

Atanasova-Guseynova graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Kyiv University, Ukraine.

After receiving permission from the Ministry of Justice in Azerbaijan, she registered the Support for the Development of Azerbaijani-Bulgarian Friendship Public Association, which also founded the international magazine AKORD. It has existed since 2005 and has been published one or two times a year ever since. It is distributed in ministries, embassies and companies operating on the territory of Azerbaijan and Bulgaria. The magazine materials are prepared collectively by members of the Azerbaijan community.