Azerbaijan: Pressure on Radio Azadliq Continues

Azerbaijani government scrutiny of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Azerbaijani service, Radio Azadliq, continues following a ban on the station's FM broadcasts. Meanwhile, loyal listeners are going digital to keep up with the US-financed broadcaster's Internet and satellite-distributed programs.

Radio Azadliq (Radio Liberty) stopped its FM broadcasts on January 1 after a heavily criticized decision by Azerbaijan's National Television and Radio Council that foreign-owned stations should not have access to the frequency.

But official misgivings about the station apparently did not end there. On January 6, two representatives from the Ministry of Communications' State Frequencies Commission visited the Radio Azadliq office, according to Baku bureau chief Khadija Ismayilova.

The envoys demanded to be shown broadcast equipment, and started to tinker with it, she recounted. "We stopped them and asked them to leave our premises. They did not give us any official document. Moreover, later an official from the ministry said that they had no instructions [to enter the station]," Ismayilova said. "Now, we should be on our guard."

The station, which ranked as one of Azerbaijan's most popular, was known for presenting a variety of views on government policy and actions -- an increasingly rare phenomenon amongst Azerbaijani media outlets.

"Every morning, I turned on the radio as soon as I got up. Almost the whole day I listened to Radio Azadliq," said 70-year-old Baku resident Mobil Bahaduroglu. "Now, I have lost my friend."

Despite the ban, work at Radio Azadliq continues apace. Only slight changes have been made to the station's 10-hour schedule, which now relies on the Internet, satellite and shortwave radio for broadcast.

"There were no dramatic changes in programs," said Ismayilova, who has worked as a reporter for EurasiaNet.org. The make-up of the station's audience has undergone the greatest change, she added.

"Although many listeners call us and ask how to listen to the radio via Internet and satellite, the majority of our audience listens to the radio on shortwave. But its quality is low and the broadcasting is just for one hour."

Police reportedly took an interest in regular gatherings by clients at one small Baku shop to hear Radio Azadliq programs broadcast by the shop's satellite dish, according to Ismayilova. Elsewhere, Baku residents with satellite dishes have neighbors over to listen to the radio together.

Radio Azadliq employees joke that it is the station's "contribution to the development of information technologies in Azerbaijan."

"We are joking about the situation, but, in reality, it is quite serious," said Ismayilova. "Our Internet statistics have been increasing, but 90 percent of our regular listeners that we had before have lost [access to our] information."

Some local observers believe that the decision to halt FM broadcasts by Radio Azadliq and other foreign news outlets has already negatively affected Azerbaijan's international image. Ilgar Mammadov, a Baku-based political analyst, worries that the broadcasting ban means that few opposing points of view will be heard in the weeks leading up to the March 18 referendum on removing term limits for President Iham Aliyev.

The West, he believes, should be more skeptical in its assessment of Aliyev's rule.

"Many international democratic institutions support him and his presidency because of political pressure associated with Western energy, oil, and strategic security issues," Mammadov said. "The international community should reconsider seriously its attitude to this cruel dictatorship that does not recognize human rights in the country, violates its international obligations, and is transforming the Azerbaijan republic into a monarchy run by one family."

[Ilgar Mammadov serves on the board of the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation in Baku. EurasiaNet operates under the auspices of OSI's Central Eurasia Project in New York City].

The question of foreign radio stations in Azerbaijan will be considered at the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE), news agencies have reported. "The existing events testify about the problems with the freedom of speech and human rights," Turan quoted PACE Rapporteur Andres Herkel as saying.

On January 15, PACE President Lluís Maria De Puig of Spain and Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos expressed hope that Azerbaijan's "highly regrettable" decision to ban FM broadcasts "will be reconsidered and that steps can be taken quickly to rectify this situation."