The OSCE called on the government of the South Caucasus to create conditions for media

Journalism is facing innumerable difficulties. Governments should take steps to create conditions for the media to put an end to harassment of journalists, to conduct an immediate investigation into the facts of pressure on journalists, and bring those responsible to justice. These are the recommendations made in a statement on the results of the 13th Conference of South Caucasus Media, which ended yesterday in Tbilisi, the OSCE office.   Final Statement consists of 12 sections, various problems affecting the media in the South Caucasus. The document underlined the call to eliminate criminal defamation, replacing civil liability. Discussion of the final document was accompanied by disputes between the Azerbaijani and Armenian representatives. Armenia's representatives offered to make a point condemning  including the journalists’ names in the "black list". However, this caused protests  by representative of Azerbaijan. Advisor to the socio-political department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Kamran Hasanov said that the names of persons, showing disrespect to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, illegally visiting the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia were included the "black list". This is not a "black list of journalists",  this is a list of those who do not respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and becomes for this reason an undesirable person, he said. Thus, the Armenian side's proposal was not accepted, and they left the hall. -0-