Authorities continue searching for "spies" and "traitors" among civil society

On 30 January, two pro-government websites (Qafqazinfo.az, Oxu.az) published a second series of critical materials against the Internet resources "Abzas-Media", "Toplum.TV" and the "Baku School of Journalism".

At the same time, the Committee for Protection of Journalists (USA) and other Western institutions, which are preparing for "provocations" during the presidential election on 7 February and for this purpose are financing civil society in Azerbaijan, were criticised.

An anonymous "Qafqazinfo" report says that the US State Department annually allocates funding to the "Global Media Agency for Overseas Operations and Related Programmes" (USAGM).

USAGM, in turn, funds an organisation called "OTF" (Open Technology Fund), and the latter provides grants to the above-mentioned media and public organisations in Azerbaijan.

Both articles state that all these activities are co-ordinated by the head of "Toplum TV" Khadija Ismail and the head of "AIW" (Azerbaijan Internet View) project Arzu Geybulla and the speaker of the Third Republican Platform Akif Gurbanov.

Commenting on these accusations, Akif Gurbanov told Turan Agency that what was said against him has no grounds.

"They want to keep us in fear with these articles. They want to intimidate those who communicate with us, not me. They want to create as high a barrier as possible between us and society, and at the same time they want to scare ordinary citizens," he said.

Instead of fulfilling their obligations, the authorities are trying to confuse people and silence their critics, he said.

" If there are official accusations, let them present them. These anonymous stories are not based on any facts. Let them better investigate the facts of corruption of high-ranking officials unmasked in journalistic investigations," he stressed.

In turn, the head of the online resource "Toplum.TV" Khadija Ismail said that she is not engaged in illegal actions.

"All this is a fabrication. Those engaged in these fabrications should at least fabricate quality lies," she said.
"We will consult and decide whether to go to court or not. "What is written is so false, so hollow that you don't want to waste your energy on such things," she noted.