Azerbaijan: Fate of Independent Broadcaster Still in Limbo

The fate of ANS Television and Radio, Azerbaijan's sole independent broadcaster, is again hanging in the balance, following the decision to postpone a tender for its broadcast frequencies. The announcement comes amid growing concerns by international organizations and human rights watchdogs about media rights in the country.

After months of controversy and the company's closure and subsequent reopening, the National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) was expected to rule on February 5 about whether to renew ANS's frequency license. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. On February 9, state-run news agency AzerTag, however, announced that a second tender for the license would be held between February 20 and March 20 since no bidders other than ANS had taken part in the earlier tender for a frequency license.

In an interview with EurasiaNet on February 5, the day slotted for a decision on ANS' bid, NTRC Chairman Nushiravan Maharramov argued that the council had delayed its decision, since the law and NTRC's own regulations do not allow a bid for a license "if there are no alternative applicants."

Rashid Hajili, director of the Baku-based Media Rights Institute, a media freedom watchdog, strongly disagrees. "I perfectly know the law on TV and radio broadcasting and NTRC's regulations. None of it has any restriction on holding a bid for a license without alternatives," Hajili said.

The fact that NTRC granted licenses in the fall of 2006 to two new regional television companies (in Alibayramli and Yevlakh) which were also the only bidders for their broadcast frequencies further undermines the NTRC's position, Hajili argued. Instead, the decision to postpone the tender is the "political decision of the authorities and their desire to keep ANS in limbo," he contended.

Maharramov, however, rejects that idea that the council acts from any hidden political motive. "The National Television and Radio Council operates within the framework of the law. And it is up to us to hold the bid or to postpone it."

ANS broadcasting was first stopped on November 24, 2006, and then, amidst considerable domestic and international outcry, restored on December 12, 2006. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The NTRC has announced that the broadcaster is free to continue its radio and TV programs until the second tender for its frequencies is completed in late March.

Nonetheless, Maharramov had indicated that certain viewer concerns about ANS television reports and programs will be taken into consideration when reviewing the station's request for a license renewal. The display of dead bodies during a crime news program, occasional "erotic" scenes in television series broadcast by ANS, and "religious segregation" in the broadcast of a traditional Azeri song contest (in which a song about Shi'ism was performed) are among the complaints, he said.

The Media Rights Institute's Hajili shrugs off such complaints, saying that other Azerbaijani television channels broadcast similar content and that the law provides no definition of eroticism, or limitations on broadcasting shots of dead bodies.

Another feature of ANS' work may prove more troubling for media watchdogs and local journalists, alike, however. A source within ANS television verified for EurasiaNet's earlier media reports that the government has appointed an individual to act as an unofficial censor for ANS news and political programs. "Indeed, we have a censor now. We have a new employee now," said the source, who asked not to be named. "Without his permission, we cannot broadcast any news."

International organizations and human rights monitors have routinely issued statements expressing their concerns about the state of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. "Anyone daring to voice criticism of the authorities or to expose Azerbaijan's enduring corruption problem faces an uncertain future, despite President Ilham Aliyev's assurances that attacks on journalists are unacceptable," charged Laurence Broers, Azerbaijan expert for Amnesty International, in a January 24 press release. "Journalists are only free to express opinions that fall in line with government directives."

In a recent commentary on the numerous such statements published since the end of 2006, Ali Hasanov, head of the political department of the Azerbaijani presidential administration, said that the information does "not reflect reality."

"Media in Azerbaijan is free and all newspapers published in the country can write what they want and express the[ir] position on any problem. Thousands of crimes happen in every country, some of them may be connected with the journalists. It does not mean the government [has] pressure on [the] media," Hasanov said, APA news agency reported on January 24.

Aside from the ongoing ANS scuffle, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have focused on recent imprisonments of and attacks against journalists.

Acts of violence have cast a particular shadow over local reporters' work. The 2005 murder of editor Elmar Huseynov, perhaps the most sensational of Azerbaijan's recent crimes against media, remains unsolved. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In late December 2006, Nijat Huseynov, a correspondent from the opposition Azadliq newspaper, was hospitalized with a knife wound after being attacked by four strangers near a bus station in a Baku suburb and badly beaten. He had recently published an article examining government corruption. The editor of the opposition Bizim Yol newspaper suffered a similar attack in the summer of 2006. Police have so far failed to find the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, several prison cases involving journalists linger on, as well. On January 30, a Baku court sentenced Faramaz Novruzoglu, a reporter from the pro-opposition, weekly Nota Bene newspaper, to two years in prison for allegedly slandering Azerbaijani Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and State Committee for Diaspora Affairs Chairman Nazim Ibrahimov. Novruzoglu had published two critical articles about the men. The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Sardar Alibeyli, received a suspended one-and-a-half year sentence.

In January, a court prolonged the detention of Samir Sadagatoglu, editor of the Sanat newspaper, and Sanat reporter Rafik Tagi, for another two months. The two were put in prison in November 2006 after the publication of an article that allegedly criticized Islam. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Meanwhile, the satirical poet Mirza Sakit, who published his poetry in the pro-opposition Azadlig, remains in prison on a three-year sentence for heroin possession. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Evictions also enter into the tally of media and opposition complaints against the government. On February 2, the Azerbaijani Economic Court #1 rejected an appeal against the November 2006 eviction of opposition Azadlig and Bizim Yol newspapers, Turan news agency and the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan from their office space in downtown Baku. (For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.)

"[T]he year 2006 was not good [for media]," Robin Seaword, the acting head of the OSCE office in Baku, commented on December 29 about violence against Azerbaijani media, Turan reported. "Journalists were exposed to continued and very strong pressure. I hope these problems will find a solution in 2007."