Can APA Holding Get Back to Work?

Since August 1, all the websites of the Azerbaijani information holding (agency) APA have not functioned. Since the day of its establishment in 2004, the agency has invariably expressed the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities. Now the phones of the agency"s employees are not answered or turned off. According to information provided by an informed source, it is possible that on August 3, by three o'clock in the afternoon or late in the evening of the same day, the agency will resume its activities.

APA did not disclose the reason for the termination of the work, and there was no statement about the incident from the agency's management or government sources. Unofficially in the journalistic circles, they speak of the private order of President Ilham Aliyev, who decided to punish APA for the provocative statement attributed to him: "Let's put Armenia on its knees." It sounded in the Russian version of news about the speech of the head of state. On August 1, at the ceremony of presenting apartments and cars to the people disabled to the Karabakh war and the Chernobyl accident, touching on the topic of the Karabakh conflict, the President spoke twice in the past tense, saying that the criminal junta regime COLLAPSED (çökdü in Azerbaijani), and once in the future tense, using the expression WE WILL SHAKE (sarsıdacağıq in Azerbaijani). But there was nothing about the knees.

APA issued an apology about the error, but the portal still does not work.

The same source reported that APA staff denies the fault of its journalists and says they published a text received from the Presidential Administration. Now they are finding out who made the mistake. Apparently, the restoration of the agency"s work depends on the outcome of the investigation.

The editor-in-chief of the opposition website Basta.info Mustafa Hajibeyli, who gave evidence in the Prosecutor General's Office five times last week on charges of improper coverage of the protest events in Gence, believes that a major news agency is not closed for a minor mistake. It is enough to punish the correspondent or the editor for the mistake - no more. Hajibeyli sees a deep reason in the incident, which should be sought in the contradictions between senior officials.

Indeed, the closure of the whole agency for only one incorrect word is nonsense. There is a known fact of error in the BBC, which instead of "rabbi" (a Jew priest) once wrote "rabbit". The BBC brought a public apology, and the conflict was exhausted.

But in Azerbaijan there are other orders. As you know, the ANS TV Company was closed in 2016 by the decision of the Broadcasting Council under the pretext that the TV company announced an interview of its correspondent with the preacher Gülen, who is accused of attempting a coup in Turkey. The Turkish Embassy in Baku hastily appealed to the leadership of Azerbaijan with a request to prevent the demonstration of this interview. That is, the broadcaster was severely punished for having performed its professional duties.

The Chairman of the opposition Musavat party, commenting on the incident with the APA agency, recalled the story of the closure of ANS, saying that pro-government media are created not only to protect the authorities, but also to undermine the independent press.

The closure, perhaps temporary, of APA is also explained with internal contradictions. Just two days ago, the editor-in-chief of the Yeni Chag website, A. Aleskerli, supported by the Presidential Aide for Political and Public Affairs Ali Hasanov, was released from the jail in the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime. One of the versions of Aleskerli's detention is his involvement in smuggling, and he was released after the intercession of the Chairman of the Press Council Aflatun Amashov.

The APA holding is a propaganda tool of Ali Hasanov. The seemingly insignificant error in the text of the President's speech, published in APA's resources, actually turned out to be inappropriate and harmful to the policy of Ilham Aliyev for the resolution of the Karabakh issue. Some passages in the speeches of Premier Pashinyan give grounds to official Baku to hope for a breakthrough in the negotiations with Armenia. However, the inappropriate expression attributed to Ilham Aliyev actually works to undermine the bilateral efforts. And in this sense Ilham Aliyev's reaction is understandable. It is though unclear why some authors on the Internet are trying to explain the closure of APA with the intrigues of pro-Armenian forces, namely saying that it was closed for its publication of a video about the meeting of the President"s daughter Leila Aliyeva with the singer Zara, for blocking the arrival of which at the Heat Song Festival in Baku a provocative campaign was organized. This is a well-known device for self-defense of people who have made some error.