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BAKU: Azeri TV says ruling party unhappy with "biased" BBC reports

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  • BAKU: Azeri TV says ruling party unhappy with "biased" BBC reports

    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]
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