Is Azerbaijan introducing a ban on criticism of Russia?

Baku/30.06.22/Turan: During the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Baku on June 24, the two countries signed an “Agreement on cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of ensuring international information security”.

The agreement provides for the observance by the parties of security and stability, mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and inviolability of state borders, peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts, non-use of force and threats, non-interference in internal affairs, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as ensuring compliance with its activities generally recognized principles and norms of international law, including the principles of bilateral cooperation and non-interference in the information resources of states.

Experts do not rule out that the Azerbaijani media will be subjected to Articles containing criticism of Russia?

Khalid Agaliyev, head of the NGO Group of Rights of the Media, answers these and other questions in the program "A Difficult Question".

According to him, this document looks like a document restricting freedom of expression and touches on quite an important topic that has had a negative impact on our country for years.

“The agreement covers issues of national security, protection of public order, respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, security and inviolability of state borders and in these areas, cooperation in the field of information security. And in general, after Azerbaijan gained independence, it became the target of unfair attacks in these areas,” the human rights activist said.

He also noted that in the first years of independence, Azerbaijan lost part of its territory  with the participation of Russia. “This happened with the close participation of Russia. Armed formations of Armenia occupied 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan. Over the past 30 years, we have witnessed how the occupation of our territories was consistently justified, an information war was waged that served to seize our territories,” he said, emphasizing that the lion's share of the hostile information flow came from Russia,” Agaliyev said.

He also stated that it is natural for friendly countries to follow the principles reflected in this document and formal fixation of this in agreements is not at all necessary.

“It is much more important how this document will be applied,” he said.

Agaliyev did not rule out that the Azerbaijani government would send “temniks” (closed instructions or directives on covering current events - ed.) to the official media, as well as numerous pro-government and government-controlled media.

"This may have some impact on independent online media, but I don't think it will pose a serious threat to freedom of expression," he concluded.-0—