NEW YEAR CANCELED IN AZERBAIJAN

Due to the death of ex-president of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev the New Year festivities are canceled in Azerbaijan, Russian media writes. According to the sources, in the view of the 40-day mourning many cultural figures have taken the initiative to cancel New Year TV programs. TV channels urgently change the telecasts of the New Year days, remake the scripts of the entertainment programs. At the same time the Baku administration has decided not to hold traditional New Year parties for children. Instead of the pre-holiday rush, Russian media reported, functionaries of various levels compete to perpetuate the deceased president’s memory. Thus, at the beginning of the week Baku Mayor Hajibala Abutalybov suggested to rename Azerbaijan into Heydaristan and the Azeris in Heydarians respectively. The leadership of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan has approved of the proposal to call the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline after Aliyev Sr. It is already decided that he will be portrayed on the Azeri note of highest value, i.e. 100 thousand manats.