Intervention by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the case of ITV should be considered in a political context

On May 11, 2018, with reference to the official state news agency AzerTaj, the powers of Director General of Public Television and Radio, Jamil Guliyev, were suspended. Balakishi Gasimov was appointed new general director. Let us note that Jamil Guliyev expressed his deep gratitude to the President of the Republic for the confidence he had shown.

It seems natural that the question of the eligibility and procedural nature of the indicated appointment arose on the agenda of observers. This is a direct and gross violation of the provisions of Articles 20.3.1 and 21.1 of the Law on Public Television and Radio, as well as the Charter of the organization. According to the law, the General Director is not appointed, but is elected on a competitive basis by members of the Council for Public Television and Radio.

This provision was approved in 2004 during the development of the said Law and the transformation of the AZTV-2 channel into Public Television (ITV).

During this period, the requirements for the formation and management of public broadcasting were built in accordance with the Council of Europe's governing documents. It is inconsequential that the period of the formation of this legislation in 2001-2004 was characterized by serious public debates, discussions. Representatives of civil society were actively involved in the working groups. It should be noted that the law "On Public Television and Radio", adopted by the Milli Majlis on January 9, 2004, contradicted the legal standards of Europe and the provisions of Article 110, Part I of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, was not signed by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and on 3 March 2004, along with comments and returned in the Milli Majlis for revision.

After that, on the basis of Article 21, Part II of the Internal Statute of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Chairman of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan sent on March 4, 2004 the Law "On Public Television and Radio", previously rejected by the President of the Republic, to the standing commissions on human rights, legal policy and state construction, cultural, scientific and educational issues.

Having considered the issues mentioned above at a joint meeting on March 5, 2004, the commissions of the Milli Majlis, guided by the Article 21 of Part II of the Internal Statute of the Milli Majlis, decided to take into account the objections and remarks of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Law on Public Television and Radio. The committees reviewed the Act again and worked it properly. At the same time, all documents regulating public broadcasting in European countries were considered, including:

- Recommendation No. 748 (1975) of the Council of Europe on the Role and Management of National Broadcasting;

- Resolution of the Conference of European Ministers "On the Perspectives of Public Radio and Television";

- Recommendation R (99) 1 of 4-8.12.1994 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe "Stimulation of pluralism in the media";

- Resolution R No.10 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe "Ensuring the independence of public service broadcasting".

It should be noted that the recommendations and resolutions listed above have undergone careful analysis, with the new legislation being brought to the maximum degree in compliance with the above standards. Considering the fact that Resolution R(96)10 provides for broad independence of public service broadcasting services, it reflects 22 different issues of a fundamental nature. Each of these issues serves to some extent to ensure the independence of the broadcasting service. An important reason for the implementation of the above procedures is that in 2001, our country, which at that time was a member of the Council of Europe, was tasked with the socialization of state broadcasting. The current problems in the management of public broadcasting are directly related to the departure from the traditions of democratic governance of society, with the oblivion of the lessons of the recent past.

Over the past 14 years, this provision has been formally applied in practice, in April 2005 and April 2009 and 2013. Remaining faithful to this procedure, every four years, among candidates for the post of general director of the NBC, he elected one as general director.

The last time Jamil Guliyev was elected to this post, and in 2017, at the end of the four-year term, the NBC announced a competition for the post of general director of the NBC, and among the five candidates Jamil Guliyev was again elected to this post.

Note that the dismissal of Jamil Guliyev from his post before the expiration of the four-year period does not mean a change in the legal norms. Legal procedures should be carried out without changes. However, for reasons unknown to us, the resignation of Jamil Guliyev and the announcement of a new appointment took place in a matter of minutes. Ignoring the legal norms and considering them superfluous, without announcing a competition for a vacancy, Mr. Gasimov was appointed to the post of General Director.

The first thing that comes to mind is the suspicion of the appointment of a CEO from the point of view of compliance with legal norms. For it seems unrealistic to allow the possibility of accidental "ignoring" or "forgetfulness" in the matter of the procedure that has been formed for 14 years and which has been repeated four times.

Subsequently, it was found out that the NBC was well aware of these procedures, and three days later a contest of applicants for the post was announced. At the same time, consciously or unintentionally, the requirements of the legislation were again ignored, announced that everything was to blame for the media, which provided false information about the new appointment; However, Balakishi Gasimov was never appointed as general director, but only temporarily acting. Why is it not said that it is a blatant violation of the law, because the Public Television Broadcasting Council cannot appoint a person from the side of the general director without holding a proper competition.

We emphasize once again that the procedure for electing a general director is clearly formulated, and the election of a candidate for office is possible only if the proper requirements and criteria are met.

Balakishi Gasimov cannot be a candidate for this post without announcing the competition, and only after the announcement of the competition he has the right to submit documents to the Tender Committee.

The contest was announced on May 14, but four days before the announcement of the contest, i.e. on May 11, Balakishi Gasimov, oddly enough, looks like he already submitted his documents for participation in the competition and thus grossly violated the requirements of the law.

In the absence for any reason, at his post of general director, he is temporarily replaced by a deputy or someone from the Board of Directors. These rules are strictly prescribed in the 2005 Regulations on Public Broadcasting.

It is noteworthy that, despite the requirements of Articles 29 and 30 of the Law on Receiving Information, the Charter and the position of the Public Broadcasting Company were not posted on the official website, for this reason, the public is not in a position to clearly identify the requirements of legislation or their violation.

Some members of the Council of Public Television and Radio Broadcasting sought to inform the public that they allegedly asked Jamil Guliyev to temporarily assume the post of general director. But in any way you will not understand, who exactly occupies a post of the general director - Jamil Guliyev or Balakishi Gasimov? From a legal point of view, the appointment of Jamil Guliyev as general director seems as impossible as the appointment of Balakishi Gasimov.

The problem is that on May 11, the Broadcasting Council offered to discuss the issue of Jamil Guliyev's resignation and accepted it. After the resignation of Jamil Guliyev, his duties cannot even be temporarily fulfilled by him, since they are suspended by the Broadcasting Council. This prohibition is provided for by the Labor Code.

According to the Article 83 of the Labor Code, on the day of termination of the employment contract with Jamil Guliyev, i.e. on his last working day, he is given an order for dismissal, a work book and a calculation (for unused leave, salary, etc.). For this reason, since May 11, after the termination of his labor activity and the termination of the contract (this fact is recognized by the Council) under Article 83 of the Labor Code, Jamil Guliyev has no rights and cannot continue even temporarily acting as a director. The question is that the general director must pass all legal procedures as a candidate and be elected among the other candidates only by voting.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the performance of the duties of the Director General from Balakishi Gasimov and Jamil Guliyev is contrary to the law, and is considered a gross violation of it. Another pressing issue that needs to be addressed is the intervention of the NBC in the competition for the election of the General Director of Public Broadcasting.

According to Clause 7.4 of the Statute of the NBC, adopted on October 5, 2002, the NBC is entrusted with the organization of nomination of candidates to the Broadcasting Council in strict accordance with the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Public Television and Radio Broadcasting".

However, the NBC does not have any authority with regard to the appointment of the General Director, which constitutes the exclusive right of the Public Broadcasting Council. Intervention in this matter should be regarded as a political interference of the state administration, since the NBC did not have legal rights to appoint a general director. Article 11.6 of the Law "On Television and Radio Broadcasting" states that the procedure can only be authorized by the state broadcasting authority on the basis of a request from the public broadcaster to investigate and disseminate specific issues related to public broadcasting. As is known, the Council of Public Broadcasting did not address this issue to the NBC.