Who was involved in the attack on the mission of the OSCE?

An unprecedented scandal with the attack and the pressure on the OSCE mission during a press conference in Baku on October 10, received an interesting sequel. It is reflected in the fact that the chief ideologue of the authorities - Ali Hasanov actually supported a group of people that have had a psychological pressure on the representatives of the OSCE.

In particular, Hasanov said that the OSCE ODIHR assessment was not objective and Baku will review its relationship with the organization. He did not say anything about the behavior of a large group of pro-government journalists, or rather about their hooliganism.

All of this is an indirect confirmation that the action "an expression of popular discontent" was planned in advance by the authorities and it was prepared.

First of all, the press conference room in the Hyatt Regency Hotel was almost full with the Press Council and its members were actively involved in disrupting the press conference.

The most active ones, screaming and attacking members of the mission, were representatives of the official newspaper Khalq, organs of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan and Ses, the newspaper Iki Sahil as well as the sites Vatan.info and Olaylar. They were joined by a number of television reporters.

Another evidence of the involvement of the authorities in this scandal is the presence on site of the deputy of Ali Hasanov, Vugar Aliyev.

In addition, seated in the audience were activists of youth organizations who provided a "moral" support and amplified the noise when they were given the command.

If someone from the opposition talked, the authorities would call it a manifestation of barbarism and damage of the image of Azerbaijan. They would have long written that the opposition is uncultured, uneducated people, who do not know how to behave.

Commenting on the scandal for Turan, the lawyer in the field of media Alasgar Mammadov said that the behavior of pro-government journalists is a gross violation of journalistic ethics. Involved in this scandal, members of the Press Council should be excluded from that body.

The incident shows how hard the situation with freedom of speech and expression in Azerbaijan is, if the government so openly, without embarrassment or fear, puts pressure on the international representatives, Mammadov said.

"The authorities have once again proved to the world that they do not take someone else's opinion.

If this happens before dozens of cameras and the myriad of foreign observers, one can imagine what's going on away from the eyes.

The incident once again proves that Azerbaijan has no tolerance for the opinions of others," said the lawyer. – 02B –