Human rights defenders urged the country's leadership to protect the agency Turan

Baku/21.08.17/Turan: A group of Azerbaijani human rights defenders appealed to President Ilham Aliyev in connection with the criminal investigation initiated by the Ministry of Taxes against the news agency Turan. The authors recall that the agency Turan, founded by a group of journalists in May 1990, became one of the first independent media in the former USSR.

The agency also prepares analytical materials and reviews for news, related to events in the field of politics, economy, energy, finance, communications, legislation, culture, religion, sports.

Turan's information users are the world's leading media: Reuters, France Press, BBC, CNN and hundreds of other media structures, state and government agencies, diplomatic missions, international organizations, representatives of the world's largest companies, local business circles.

On August 7, the Department of Preliminary Tax Offenses of the Ministry of Taxes started a criminal investigation of the Agency's activities for the period from 2014 to 2016. On August 16, tax officials searched the Turan office, where they withdrew financial documents for the period 2014-2016, a number of other documents and a computer of accountant. The next day, the department expanded the investigation period from October 1, 2010 to August 1, 2017, demanding all documents for this period.

The authors of the appeal remind that on the initiative of the Azerbaijani President from November 1, 2015 all the inspections in the field of entrepreneurship were stopped for a period of 2 years. However, in spite of this, the tax authorities began checking against the most authoritative agency of the country and created obstacles to its activities.

"Considering all this, we appeal to you with a request to take control of the conduct of tax audits and create normal conditions for the activities of the IA Turan. We ask for your intervention to prevent the termination of the agency's activities," said Novella Jafaroglu, Saida Gojamanli, Saadat Bananyarli, Mirvari Gahramanly, Arzu Abdullayeva and Avaz Hasanov in an appeal.

The same group of human rights defenders appealed to the first vice-president of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, with a similar appeal. The authors note the role of Turan in informing the international community about the activities in the humanitarian, cultural and educational spheres conducted in the country with the support of Aliyev.

It also points to a positive analysis of Turan expected after Aliyev's appointment as the first vice president of the country's reforms in the cultural, economic and political spheres

The authors of the appeal ask Mehriban Aliyev, using her authority, to prevent additional tax checks that violate the harmonious rhythm of the agency's work, make every effort to create normal conditions for the agency's work, which is trusted as an objective source of information and analysis about Azerbaijan in the international arena. -06D-