Error strategy

A new phenomenon is forced to recognize one of the ideologists and pioneers of large-scale companies insulting the person and spreading lies at the state level, Azerbaijani presidential aide Ali Hasanov.

On March 22, on Facebook, Hasanov urged critics of the regime to abandon insulting vocabulary, remembering the moral standards, mentality and traditions of Azerbaijanis, which the ideological team of the Presidential Administration destroyed for years.

Targeted insults against President Ilham Aliyev, his family and his closest associates from the political emigrants became a noticeable trend of the last year. It is a response to long-term insults from the officials against political opponents, violence against them and their families.

Today, watching videos with insults to the authorities on youtube is gaining hundreds and millions of views, which indicates an increased attention of the audience to a new trend in the Azerbaijani political and information space.

The consequences of such an information counteroffensive are a threat to the stability of the authorities. The fact is that in Azerbaijan, as an authoritarian country, all stability is closed on the authority of the leader and the destruction of his image, the inviolability of his ego, entails the destabilization of the system. The fall of the leaders of the country Vezirov in 1989, Mutallibov in 1992, Elchibey in 1993 was preceded by their discrediting in public opinion, which was expressed in the dissemination of anecdotes, caricatures, nicknames, parody and, finally, open foul language.

It is noteworthy that in all cases, the leading forces in the struggle for power, both top and bottom, acted as catalysts for such campaigns. In this case, a number of public figures do not exclude that in provoking a foul political controversy are interested also certain wings in power. Observations show that it is Aliyev and his family that are most zealously exposed to the "obscene" attack.

True, the ideologist of the "foul" fight with opponents Ali Hasanov hastened to note that not only the president is being insulted, but he is also a faithful assistant, thus trying to make it clear that there is no hand in provoking the situation. But the facts show that the ideologist of the regime is behind the latest events. At the end of last year, to strengthen the line of insults and slander, the authorities formed an army of trolls, which faced real challenges in organizing attacks of lies, insults against political opponents in social networks. At the congress of the now pro-ruling Press Council, Hasanov directly called on journalists to join the fight against dissidents and intensify their efforts to protect the regime.

To the history of the issue

The system of humiliation of the individual developed with the coming of Ilham Aliyev to power in 2003. We must give credit, but under Heydar Aliyev this form of struggle was not approved, although slander and insult of opponents were used, mainly on television and in print media. The era of the Internet has not yet come to Azerbaijan.

In 2005, Aslan Ismailov, a lawyer, publicly appealed to President Ilham Aliyev with an appeal to put an end to the insults of the authorities' opponents on the LİDER TV channel (owned by the grandson of Ilham Aliyev's uncle.) Aliyev responded that the channel is independent and the state cannot interfere in its activities. It followed that Aliyev did not intend to stop such a campaign on LİDER TV, and in general. But the fact is that the law on TV directly prohibits not only insults and slander, but also requires balancing, pluralism, objectivity in broadcasting policy.

At that time, the ideologists of this policy, taking full control of TV channels, almost all print media, Internet sites, were confident that they could use information resources with impunity to defame opponents and carry out propaganda in their own interests. They did not realize the strategic development of the Internet, its capabilities and the inability in the future to control critical voices in the global information web.

This danger was then realized by professional media and journalists who tried to prevent this trend and the harmful policies of the authorities. In 1996, the Baku Press Club was established, which adopted a Code that obliges journalists to refuse insults and libel. Blocking the activities of the press club and its destruction was authorized by the head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev. In 2003, the same group of details of journalism initiated and established the Press Council, also adopting the fundamental Professional and Ethical Code of the Azerbaijani journalist. Again, with the help of the ongoing policy of Ali Hasanov, the destruction of the Press Council and the transformation of it

Again, with the help of the ongoing policy of Ali Hasanov, the Press Council began to be destroyed and turned into a controlled body that began to initiate the vilest initiatives regarding the media and intensifying confrontation in the information environment.

In 2006, five journalistic organizations, with the support of the US Embassy, ​​launched the project "Monitoring compliance with professional ethical standards in the media." As a result of the first three months of the project, the number of violations decreased from 7,500 to 2,500. At the same time, only 1% fell on insults and slander. Subsequently, the newspapers İdeal, Müasir Müsavat and other governmental and pro-governmental mass media were among the insulted. Opposition media were not among them.

In 2008, the project was submitted to the Board of the Press Council, the direct responsibility of which is to monitor compliance by members of the Press Council with the norms and principles of the journalist's professional ethics code. However, in six months the project was closed.

The Administration of the President was irritated by the fact that the monitoring, mainly, revealed a gross violation of a number of publications, mainly governmental and pro-governmental, the principle of observance of the Truth (objectivity, balance, pluralism).

The recent actions of the Press Council aimed at closing down websites, tightening the rules of the Internet, Ali Hasanov's statement and actions to reduce the legal professional pluralistic information field of Azerbaijan, show that the authorities adhere to the line of strengthening censorship and restricting freedom of speech.

Upcoming prospects

In the articles "Linotype Way of Thinking"

http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2016/11/free/analytics/en/117098.htm ,

"The battle is lost gentlemen" http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2017/5/free/analytics/en/117808.htm

Turan notified the authorities about the failure of their information policy and actually called for the abandonment of this line, which seriously damages the information security system of the country and provokes an intensification of confrontation in a society that ultimately creates a real threat to stability and even national security.

The only way to stop the process of moral degradation is to restore the conditions for the development of pluralism, polemics and criticism within the framework of the legislation and moral norms stipulated in the Code. The information policy requires revision and reform in accordance with international democratic standards. There is no other way.