Ali Hasanov in His Favorite Preachy Role

Ali Hasanov, the main ideologue of the authorities, did not miss the opportunity to use the platform of the Congress for Journalists to teach morals. In his view, there is some "habit to act against the state rather than criticize the government."

Speaking to reporters, he complained that the newspaper ‘Azadlig’, which was created in the wake of the independence movement, now publishes only negative things about Azerbaijan and distributes this material abroad.

Hasanov is also dissatisfied with articles in Azadlig about former foreign diplomats in Azerbaijan.

"Not all of them of course are diplomats. Among them are representatives of special services that arrive in Azerbaijan for other purposes. Some of them did not complete their mission and continue to act as members of human rights organizations. Azadlig publishes anti-Azerbaijani materials from these people," said Hasanov.

Then he repeated the favorite phrase of the authorities that a ‘journalist is not only a profession, but also a citizen of the country’.

"Is it possible to prefer professional to national values? Unfortunately, in Azerbaijani journalism there are people who cannot separate the interests of the government from the interests of the state. As a result, the Armenian press cites our press and spreads these articles in the world.

Some individuals from Freedom House, and other organizations take revenge on Azerbaijan, such as Rebecca Vincent of Human Rights Watch (in fact, she is a former employee of Article 19 - Turan). Every day she appears on Al-Jazeera. She worked at the U.S. Embassy, and was subsequently removed from there. Somehow, she devoted herself to the anti-Azerbaijan activity," said Hasanov.

Next, Hasanov accused the opposition of assignment "of its place to another person," meaning Rustam Ibrahimbekov.

From this position, it can be concluded that the government does not intend to conduct any real reforms, to change their attitude towards the independent press or ensure freedom of speech. -06D-