Azeri TV lashes out at BBC “promoting reconciliation” with Armenia
ANS TV, Baku
20 May 04
[Presenter] The behaviour of employees of the BBC World Service, who
visit Nagornyy Karabakh, which is an integral part of Azerbaijan,
without the knowledge of the Baku government, remains the subject
of a public investigation. We have decided to view this step by a
BBC employee, as well as the activities of the producer of the BBC
Russian service’s morning programmes, Mark Grigoryan, against the
background of the BBC’s general stance on the Karabakh conflict.
[Correspondent over video of archive footage captioned as Susa, 2001]
You see these pictures for the first time. This is Susa. Col Uzeyir
Cafarov, who retired now, went to Nagornyy Karabakh under the guise
of a reporter and took these pictures in 2001. Azerbaijani soldiers
who abandoned the town in 1992 can witness that although more than
10 years have passed, nothing has changed there. That is, Armenian
reports that Nagornyy Karabakh is being rapidly reconstructed and
that foreign investment is flowing into the area are a lie.
[Uzeyir Cafarov, captioned as military reporter, retired
lieutenant-colonel] If we take Susa itself, only the central part of
the town has been reconstructed to show visiting people that there
is life there. In Lacin, all the reports about the life style there
are almost not true.
[Correspondent over video of archive footage] However, the BBC reports
quite its opposite. BBC journalist Steven Eke, who prepared reports
by illegally entering our area, claims that Nagornyy Karabakh towns
have been reconstructed and that normal life is being lived there. In
his reports, he says that the town’s [Susa’s] central streets have
been rebuilt and that there are no signs of war.
But what is the real picture?
[Video shows archive footage of Susa]
[Uzeyir Cafarov] I absolutely disagree that they are living a full
life there. Many ordinary people we spoke to, for instance in Lacin,
said sincerely that they knew that the lands should be sooner or later
vacated. They are forced to live temporarily in Lacin, because the
necessary conditions were not created for them in Yerevan. In Susa,
people are engaged in small business. All of them are newcomers.
[Correspondent over video of BBC Russian Service web site] Let us
carefully look at the BBC’s special web site devoted to the 10th
anniversary of the Karabakh cease-fire:
– I am looking for my university friend and the person who is
spiritually close to me, Edik Ayrapetov. He comes from Baku, lived in
Razin. I want to thank all those who will help me. Valeriy Bayramov,
USA.
– Or my friend Stanislav Oganyan, we studied at an Azerbaijani
university, he used to work for the Literaturnaya Gazeta newspaper
in the early 1990s, later as far as I know for the Sovetskaya Rossiya
newspaper. I will be happy to find him. Kamal Aslanov, Canada.
On the web site’s Looking for Friends section, dozens of Azerbaijanis
are allegedly looking for their Armenian friends who used to live
in Baku and Azerbaijan. They do not stop there. The atmosphere in
Azerbaijan and Armenia in connection with the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict is presented as follows – Moods in Azerbaijan: from
pseudo-patriotism to apathy. Moods in Armenia: without hatred,
but also without trust. These headlines show the BBC’s interests in
promoting reconciliation between the two countries and in Armenia
continuing to keep under control the occupied lands. The BBC and its
Armenian employees are carrying out propaganda to prevent resumption
of hostilities in the area and are trying to demonstrate to Azerbaijan
and Azerbaijanis that Azerbaijanis and Armenians can live together.
Our answer to Armenians who write so-called peace letters to
Azerbaijanis is ‘memory’.
[Video shows archive footage of mutilated bodies]
[Voice of journalist Cingiz Mustafayev, who was killed in Karabakh]
[words indistinct] They were scalped.
[Unidentified voice] They were scalped. Bastards, barbarians.
[Voice of Cingiz Mustafayev] They are bastards.
Zaur Hasanov, Zeynal Zeynalov, ANS