Azerbaijani youth create "Street Book Movement"

In Azerbaijan, a group of young activists has announced the creation of the "Street Book Movement" (SBM) with the aim to promote reading and create a free available book network in the country's capital and regions. According to Salekh Mekhtizade, one of the initiators of the campaign, co-coordinator of the SBM and a member of the youth movement "Dalga" (Wave), actions are planned to attract young people to reading.

The SBM also plans to translate books by Azerbaijani authors into foreign languages and disseminate them abroad, said Mekhtizade.

According to his story, at the first stage of the campaign, an appeal to citizens will be addressed through the media and social networks to voluntarily entrust their books to the SBM for distribution among readers. Special places will be appointed in Baku, where people could bring and place their books.

According to Mekhtizade, the SBM has no sponsors; and its organizers rely only on their own efforts. When asked whether the campaign organizers fear any obstacles or pressure by the authorities or police, he said that the authorities should not prevent this good initiative.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" wrote about some actions aimed to attract young people to reading books; some of them were opposed by the police. Thus, on February 5, 2013, young people from the youth organization "Dalga" distributed leaflets in central Baku calling to read books. Policemen detained the activists, saying that an appropriate license is needed for advertising books.