Azerbaijani newspapers protest Armenian officers’ arrival in Baku

Azerbaijani newspapers protest Armenian officers’ arrival in Baku

AP Worldstream
Sep 04, 2004

Leading Azerbaijani newspapers ran blank front pages Saturday to
protest the arrival of officers from rival Armenia for a NATO-sponsored
exercise, while some electronic media stopped broadcasting for
several hours.

The front pages carried only the words, “The media of Azerbaijan
protest the arrival in Baku of the Armenian military.”

A statement of protest published in Friday’s newspapers called the
visit “an insult to the Azerbaijani people,” which endangered the
nation’s stability.

The statement was signed by the chief editors of nine newspapers
representing a wide political spectrum and the heads of the ANS and
Azernet agencies.

Earlier in the week, members of the Organization for the Freedom of
Karabakh, including its leader, were sentenced to between 3 and 5
years in prison for organizing disturbances in protest of the arrival
of Armenian officers.

The NATO Cooperative Best Effort-04 seminar is scheduled to run
Sept. 13-26.