AZERBAIJAN’S "IRELI" PUBLIC UNION SENDS A STATEMENT OF OBJECTION TO THE EURONEWS TV CHANNEL
Today
Dec 4 2009
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s "Ireli" Public Union has sent a letter of protest to
Euronews TV channel about the short documentary on Nagorno-Karabakh
aired a few days ago.
Below is the text of the letter undersigned by "Ireli" Chairman
Jeyhun Osmanli.
"We, the young people of Azerbaijan Republic, on behalf of the "Ireli"
Public Union, would like to draw your attention to the video report,
"Winds of change in Nagorno Karabakh" which was recently aired
on Euronews TV channel. We strongly express our displeasure and
discontent, as the publicized report is full of controversies and
lacks journalistic professionalism. Most of the facts stated in the
TV program are rather completely false or preconceived. We want to
bring some of them to your attention:
1. Reporters acted in a very disrespectful and unprofessional manner
when they entered Nagorno-Karabakh (legal territory of the Republic of
Azerbaijan), without any consent of the Azerbaijani government. This is
a serious breach of the two indelible principles of international law:
sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
2. Report indicates that Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave within
Azerbaijan, in other words is a state or part of a state that
is surrounded by another. This information is utterly erroneous
since Nagorno-Karabakh has never been a part of Armenia, and it is
not internationally recognized as an independent state. It is an
integral part of Azerbaijan and even prior to the conflict, during
the ascendancy of the Soviet Union, it had a special representational
status within Azerbaijani Parliament.
3. In the video material, the figures about the population of
Karabakh are totally misleading. By stating that 95 percent of
the inhabitants used to be Armenians, journalist simply falsifies
the history. In reality, Azerbaijanis were about the 2/3 of the
population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the first half of the nineteenth
century. Even following the massive deportation policy of the Soviet
Union, Azerbaijanis still constituted the 23 percent of the population,
not 5 percent as stated in the report.
4. Correspondent argues that in Karabakh, Armenian churches are
everywhere and the region itself has a significant spirit of
Christianity. However, he completely forgets to mention about the
numerous mosques that exist in the region. Fallen victims to Armenian
vandalism, most of them were completely destroyed or re-designed in
order to be presented later as "authentic Armenian churches".
5. In the video, it is rightly mentioned that nearly one million people
were displaced as a result of the conflict. However, unfortunately,
reporter does not mention the fact that almost all of the mentioned
IDPs are Azerbaijanis. The number of Azeri refugees and IDPs from
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was approximately 800,000; 200,000 of
these were refugees, and more than 600,000 were IDPs.
6. Footage, showing the extraction process in the occupied gold and
copper mines of the Nagorno-Karabakh, adds to the overall partiality.
Even the author himself mentions that Nagorno-Karbakh receives 10
million euros each year from the exploitation of these reserves.
However, it should be noted that Karabakh is internationally recognized
as a legal component of Azerbaijan. It does not have any independence
and any business activity within its territory is absolutely illegal,
without the consent of Azerbaijan Republic.
We think that, because of all the above-mentioned mistakes, report
has serious tinge of preconception, and, thus, violates journalistic
honesty and internationally recognized standards of media.
Professionally primed report about a conflicted territory should
embrace opinions of both sides and facts.
We consider Euronews to act based on equality and avoid spreading
biased information. Therefore, we sincerely hope and strongly urge
that these kinds of unprofessional materials will no longer be filmed
or aired by a worldwide-appreciated television channel."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
