Broadcaster Shut-Down, Office Evictions Stir Free-Speech Concerns in Azerbaijan

An Azerbaijani state commission's November 24 decision to suspend broadcasts by independent television and radio station ANS, followed within hours by the court-ordered eviction of pro-opposition media outlets and an opposition party from their offices in Baku, has raised concerns of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan. While the government has not yet commented on recent developments, Western embassies and international organizations have strongly condemned the moves.

The decisions bring to a head two long-standing tussles between the government and independent media outlets. The first, with ANS, Azerbaijan's first privately owned broadcaster, focused on the company's right to rebroadcast foreign-produced news items. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The second involves a long-standing fight between the State Property Committee and several pro-opposition tenants of a building in downtown Baku, including the opposition Azadliq (Freedom) newspaper, the pro-opposition news agency Turan and the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, the country's largest opposition party, over their right to occupy a downtown building free of charge. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The ruling on ANS came first. The National Radio and Television Council (NRTC) decided not to prolong ANS TV and ANS CM radio's broadcast licenses. An NRTC press release cited "systematic violations by ANS of the requirements of the law on broadcasting and not paying fines" as the reason for the decision to suspend the company's broadcast license.

Despite their ongoing dispute with the NRTC, ANS executives say that the decision was unexpected. The council did not issue an official warning to ANS executives that it was considering suspending the stations' broadcast licenses. Both ANS television and radio continued to broadcast until 3:20 pm on November 24, when all satellite and regular broadcast frequencies were cut off. The decision to stop ANS' broadcasting was taken two days before the company's 15th anniversary as Azerbaijan's first independent television and radio broadcaster.

Several hours after the decision, law enforcement agency and Ministry of Communications representatives appeared at ANS offices and began to dismantle the company's transmitters and antennas. Access to ANS' satellite broadcasting equipment was also blocked, while policemen surrounded the company's headquarters.

In response to the NRTC's decision, ANS argued that the failure of a court to rule on the broadcast suspension makes the NRTC's license suspension illegal. "Such actions by the NRTC cause damage to Azerbaijan's international image as a democratic state," a statement issued by the media company read. The company said that it intends to use "all means" to restore its broadcasts, and expressed hope that President Ilham Aliyev would intervene on ANS' behalf to find "a fair solution."

"ANS was never involved in politics and I believe that the people who took this decision will change it," commented Vahid Mustafayev, president of the ANS Group of Companies, at a press conference on the evening of November 24. "We will appeal to President Ilham Aliyev and I hope he will be able to restore justice." A source within ANS, who asked to remain anonymous, told EurasiaNet that the company had turned down an offer from opposition parties to hold joint demonstrations against the license suspension.

Other media organizations that have voiced criticism of the government are now under pressure, too. A few hours after ANS was silenced, the Azerbaijani Economic Court ordered the immediate eviction of all tenants from the building involved in the Azadlig newspaper's dispute with the State Property Committee. While representatives from Western embassies and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) looked on, more than 50 policemen, led by Baku Deputy Police Chief Yashar Aliyev, blocked the building until November 25, when trucks from the State Property Committee arrived to remove the organizations' property to office space on the outskirts of Baku designated by the State Property Committee. The building is now empty, sealed up and guarded by police.

The decisions, however, are unlikely to put either dispute to rest.

Already, the NRTC has announced plans to accept bids from other interested parties for ownership of ANS' television and radio broadcast frequencies. "Next week we [the NRTC] will announce a new contest for the ANS TV and ANS CM frequencies," the council's chairman, Nushiravan Maharramov, told the APA news agency on November 25. "Even if ANS applies for these frequencies again, the preference will be given to other candidates. The NRTC has the authority to do this."

The international community responded immediately to the NRTC's decision. Ambassador Maurizio Pavesi, head of the OSCE's mission in Baku, said in a statement that he was "perplexed as to why the decision, which was issued in the absence of any definitive reasoning, should come into force immediately." The independent television and radio company "has always been considered by international observers as the most objective in the country," he added.

The United States embassy, calling for reconsideration of the decision, termed the closure of ANS a "serious blow to . . . freedom of the media" that has placed "Azerbaijan's commitments on democratic development and freedom of speech under . . . question." The German Embassy, speaking on behalf of the European Union, described the EU as "very concerned," noting that it is "actively seeking an explanation from the [Azerbaijani] government."

Azerbaijani media and analysts have reacted more strongly, with some arguing that the decision to shut down ANS and evict the Azadliq building occupants was made at the highest levels of the government.

"I am shocked by this news. I have no words to explain what is going on in this country," commented Elchin Shikhlinsky, chairman of Azerbaijan's Journalists Union and editor-in-chief of the Russian-language daily Zerkalo (Mirror), about the ANS decision. "I did not hear a competent and reasoned explanation for this action. I have more and more pessimism about the future of freedom of speech in Azerbaijan."

One observer of the Azadlig building eviction process, which did not involve the use of force, commented that intervention by a United States Embassy official was required before police would allow the pro-opposition Turan news agency to remove their property from the State Property Committee-designated office space on the outskirts of Baku to downtown offices already rented by Turan.

"We expected the court's decision and had already rented another office in downtown. So, we were going to move our property there. But the police did not allow it," said Turan reporter Farid Gahramanov. "They did not allow us to move it until the US embassy representative called the police. Only after that we were able to rent new trucks and return our staff back downtown."

Both ANS and parties involved in the Azadlig building dispute have said that they plan to fight the decisions. A hunger strike conducted by protestors at the Azadlig building since November 9 resulted in the hospitalisation of Azadlig Editor Ganimat Zahidov on November 24.

Government officials have not issued statements on either decision as yet. Speaking with a group of editors from the independent and opposition press (Zerkalo, Echo, Yeni Musavat, Baki Khabar, Novoe Vremya, Gun Seher, Azadlig and Turan news agency) on November 24 before the ANS license suspension, US Ambassador Anne E. Derse stated that she had discussed freedom of the press issues with President Aliyev on November 23, and had urged a dialogue between the government and independent media to resolve existing differences. While editors at the meeting reportedly expressed interest in the idea, the government has not responded.

Meanwhile, in the absence of official explanations for the November 24 decisions, observers are struggling to explain the authorities' hasty actions.

Some conjecture that the measures taken against ANS and the Azadlig building occupants may be designed to strengthen the government's position for taking a potentially unpopular position during the expected November 28 meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Robert Kocharian on the sidelines of a Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Minsk. The two leaders have agreed to discuss proposals for a resolution to their dispute over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]

"Maybe they [the government] are getting ready to sign any agreement with Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution," suggested journalists' union chief Elchin Shikhlinsky. "And we know that ANS, which was the most popular television in the country, always was strongly against any defeatist peace with Armenia."

Ilgar Mammadov, a Baku-based political analyst, shares this point of view. "There is no logical justification for these actions [of the authorities]. The only explanation is an upcoming possible breakthrough on the Karabakh peace process," he said.

Another analyst, Eldar Namazov, a former opposition movement leader and former advisor to the late President Heidar Aliyev, holds a different view, however. "I do not expect the signing of any peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia," he said. "What happened with ANS and the Azadlig building is just the reinforcement of authoritarianism in Azerbaijan."

Instead of Karabakh, Namazov points to a recently floated proposal that the constitution be amended to extend the president's term from five to seven years. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archive]. "And the November 24 events are another attempt by the ruling elite to secure power for a longer period."