H.E. Ilham Aliyev
President
Office of the President
19 Istiglaliyat Street
Baku 370066
Republic of Azerbaijan
Fax: (011.994.12) 98-33-28
Your Excellency:
We are alarmed by the accelerated deterioration of the situation of journalists working in Azerbaijan these past several months.
The decline began in mid-November, when the National Television and Radio Council withdrew the license of ANS, Azerbaijan’s leading independent television station. ANS was knocked off the air immediately, and with it, programming re-broadcast from the BBC, RFE/RL and Voice of America. The ANS license was provisionally restored five weeks later, but the station remains under the threat of re-assignment of its frequency in February.
But in the same week that the ANS broadcast license was — for now – restored, Nijat Huseynov, reporter for Azadlyg, was beaten by four unidentified men. He had previously received threats following publication of corruption allegations issued against high-ranking government officials.
And just this month, a court in Baku extended the pre-trial detention of Samir Sadagatoglu and Rafiq Tagi, both of the independent publication, Senet. The pair were arrested and charged with “racial hatred” after publishing an article alleging that Islam’s influence is hindering Azerbaijan’s development.
We took heart last week upon hearing that an appeals court in Baku released Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, editor of the www.susmayaq.biz news website. Hajiyev had been sentenced to 12 days in prison for criticizing government economic policies. We were also relieved to see that susmayaq.biz is back on-line after having been blocked for publishing displeasing points of view.
But this week brought news that Faramaz Novruzoglu and Sardar Alibeili of Nota Bene have been given two years in prison and 18 months’ corrective labor, respectively, for committing criminal libel. Interior Minister Ramil Usubov brought charges after the paper published articles in December alleging friction and corruption in the interior ministry.
Your Excellency, we take no position for or against opinions and allegations published in Azerbaijani media. We do take a strong position in favor of free expression. Aggressive, fearless journalism — of the sort we have long admired in Azerbaijan — is a cornerstone of a modern nation. Its practitioners are not threats to a nation but among its most committed citizens. Their work should be celebrated, not shut down.
You have in the past expressed a general support for free expression and open media in Azerbaijan. We urge you now to be more specific in that support, and to do all in your power to assure the legal rights of our Azerbaijani colleagues.
Respectfully yours,
Kevin McDermott Norman A. Schorr
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Yashar Aliyev
Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan
2741 34th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: (202) 337-5911
Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan
to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 560
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 371-2784
Anne E. Derse
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Embassy of the United States of America
7050 Baku Place
Azerbaijan
Fax: (011.994.12) 90-66-71
(OR: U.S. Embassy – Azerbaijan
Department of State
Washington, DC 20521)
Azerbaijan International
P.O. Box 5217
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413
Fax: (310) 440-0801
ANS Group of Companies
Department of news
newsroom.ans@ans.az