Azeri TV says ruling party unhappy with “biased” BBC reports

Lider TV, Baku
27 May 04

[Presenter] The BBC Radio Service’s biased reports on the Karabakh
conflict have triggered protests in Baku. Azerbaijani Minister of
Communications and Information Technology Ali Abbasov has said that
if the press council [presumably the National TV and Radio Council]
bans BBC broadcasts in Azerbaijan, it is feasible for the ministry
to carry it out technically.

[Correspondent] A round table discussion on recent interference in
Azerbaijan’s media sphere has been held. The participants in the
round table said that the BBC has lately carried biased reports on
Azerbaijan. They noted that the radio company’s employees had visited
the occupied territory without obtaining permission from official Baku.

The deputy executive secretary of the [ruling] New Azerbaijan Party,
Mubariz Qurbanli, said that Azerbaijani citizens can watch and listen
to any foreign radio and TV channels. After getting licenses, some
foreign TV and radio channels can freely broadcast in our country. The
New Azerbaijan Party has monitored the programmes of the BBC Radio
Russian Service and has established that their programmes are not
only biased, but also reflect the position of the enemy. They could
be compared with programmes broadcast from Armenia.

[Qurbanli] BBC programmes in Russian put out anti-Azerbaijani
reports. They distort the political situation in Azerbaijan. At the
same time, they distort our history and culture. They carry biased
reports against Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent] In this context, the New Azerbaijan Party has sent
letters of protest to the BBC Radio management twice. Qurbanli
said that the BBC is broadcast through popular local channels whose
listeners receive false information. The biased position of the radio
has caused fair dissatisfaction by the Azerbaijani public.

At the latest sessions of the Azerbaijani parliament, MPs noted that
if the BBC ignores the appeals from Azerbaijan, the broadcasts will
be stopped, and Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Ali Abbasov has said that it is feasible for the ministry to solve
this issue.

[Abbasov speaking to microphones] If the press council decides that
their activities should be stopped, then we will do so technically.

[Correspondent] It is interesting that the BBC Radio Service has not
delivered any official statement concerning discontent in society.

Rasad Nasirov and Vuqar Sixaliyev, Lider TV.

[Azerbaijani Space TV, at 1530 gmt, and the first channel of state
television, at 1500 gmt, also broadcast similar reports on 27 May]