Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Freedom of Expression Network
(CASCFEN), Azerbaijan
Sept 4 2004

Newspapers published with blank front pages

…To protest planned arrival of Armenian officers to Azerbaijan

CASCFEN, Baku, 4 Sept 2004 — Today about two dozens of dailies were
published with blank front pages to protest planned arrival of
Armenian officers to participate in maneuvers to take place in
Azerbaijan within NATO “Partnership for Pease” Program on September
12, 2004. The decision was taken by 9 leading mass media heads a day
before and others were called to join an action. As a result other
popular dailies joined action too. Alongside with dailies Group of
Companies ANS (includes TV, Radio channels, news agency and several
magazines) suspended broadcasts between 10am to 11am and 04pm to 05pm
and is going to suspend it from 08pm to 09pm. Among those published
with blank front pages are most popular newspapers such as “Azadliq”,
“Yeni Musavat”, “Baki Khaber”, “Xeber.net”, “Baku Today”, “Ekspress”,
“Uc noqte”, “Iki sahil”, “Sharq”, “525-ci qezet”, “Ayna”,
“Mukhalifet”, “Olaylar”, Russian-language “Zerkalo”, “Ekho”, “Novoye
Vremya” and others. The electronic versions of these newspapers
published protest slogans on their web sites too.

The statement published on the papers on Sept 3 warned that if the
arrival of Armenians will not be prevented media outlets reserve the
right to broaden protest actions: “Depending on development of events
we reserve the right to broaden our protest activities even further
and to suspend our activity for longer term”.

Those joining protest consider arrival of Armenian officers to
Azerbaijan as a disrespect for the nation: “Letting the officers of
occupational forces into the training facilities of Azerbaijan,
letting them train together with our soldiers means disrespect
towards the military interests of the host country and playing with
the nerves of the Azerbaijan nation”.

“We think that admission of the Armenian forces to Baku is insult to
Azerbaijani nation, which lost thousands of its sons, aggravates a
political situation in the country, causes mass protest, and creates
ground for infringement of existing stability and unpredictable
negative consequences”, reads the statement.

The Statement of Protest by Mass Media of Azerbaijan

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress