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AZERI OPPOSITION PAPER FACES CLOSURE
By Seymur Kazimov, IWPR
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3700&Ite mid=43
BAKU. September 8, 2012: Azerbaijan's largest pro-opposition newspaper,
Azadliq, is on the brink of closure after being given ten days to
pay the equivalent of 31,000 US dollars in outstanding bills.
Azadliq's editor, Rahim Hajiyev, said the 25,000-manat debts included
11,000 for electricity, power, heating and other utility bills,
while the rest was owed to the state-owned printers.
Hajiyev said the decision to demand urgent payment was politically
driven. He noted that a series of recent decisions by the government
had already pushed his newspaper close to the edge.
"In 2011, street trading was banned in Baku, including selling
newspapers. Ali Hasanov, who heads the political department in the
presidential administration, justified this by saying it interfered
with pedestrians and traffic," Hajiyev told IWPR.
He said the paper's income had also been hit by the closure of the
state-owned Gasid chain of kiosks, where it used to be sold. He said
the retailer still owed his newspaper 28,000 manats, enough to pay
off its the debts.
"We still haven't received the money due for papers sold between May
and August," he said. "I believe all this is being done to destroy
the publishing system in this country."
The Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety noted that Azadliq had
already been forced to pay large fines after defamation lawsuits,
including 30,000 manats to Tagi Ahmadov, head of the Baku Metro,
and 4,000 manats to Anar Mammadov, son of the transport minister.
Azadliq staff say their reporting ventures where other newspapers
dare not go.
"We write about corruption issues concerning the present government.
It controls most of the media, but it hasn't been able to touch
Azadliq," editor Rovshan Hajibayli said.
Other opposition-leaning papers are also vulnerable because of money
they owe to the state-run publishing company, and the collapse of
the retail network.
"We owe the publishing company more than 8,000 manats, and Gasid owes
us 18,000, which we're unable to get so as to pay off our debts,"
Rauf Arifogli, editor in chief of Yeni Musavat, said. "We face constant
pressures - court proceedings, insults and arrests. But it didn't used
to be direct interference. Now a mechanism has been put in place that
we aren't strong enough to resist."
The Gasid kiosk chain is headed by Mirkazim Kazimov, a member of
parliament from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party. He confirmed that
his company owed the newspapers money, but denied there was anything
unusual about that.
He rejected suggestions that Gasid shut down its outlets on orders
from the president's office, and said they were actually closed by
local government on the grounds that they were no longer fit for use.
"We don't have the money to replace the old kiosks with new ones.
Since our shares belong to the state, we can't take out a loan to
replace them," he said. "Newspapers are sold in shops, not just in
kiosks. We have no links to the presidential administration; we're
bound only by our contracts."
Since 2009, the government has issued funding to newspapers from the
State Fund for the Support of the Media, but media rights activists
say this does not make up for what opposition papers lose.
The Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety, IRFS, which campaigns
for a free press in Azerbaijan, said opposition papers faced an
effective advertising boycott, which reduced their income.
"IRFS urges the Azerbaijani government to end the pressure on the
opposition and independent media and calls on public officials to be
tolerant of alternative opinions and criticism," it said in a statement
(Institute for War and Peace Reporting).
Seymur Kazimov is a freelance journalist in Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Seymur Kazimov, IWPR
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3700&Ite mid=43
BAKU. September 8, 2012: Azerbaijan's largest pro-opposition newspaper,
Azadliq, is on the brink of closure after being given ten days to
pay the equivalent of 31,000 US dollars in outstanding bills.
Azadliq's editor, Rahim Hajiyev, said the 25,000-manat debts included
11,000 for electricity, power, heating and other utility bills,
while the rest was owed to the state-owned printers.
Hajiyev said the decision to demand urgent payment was politically
driven. He noted that a series of recent decisions by the government
had already pushed his newspaper close to the edge.
"In 2011, street trading was banned in Baku, including selling
newspapers. Ali Hasanov, who heads the political department in the
presidential administration, justified this by saying it interfered
with pedestrians and traffic," Hajiyev told IWPR.
He said the paper's income had also been hit by the closure of the
state-owned Gasid chain of kiosks, where it used to be sold. He said
the retailer still owed his newspaper 28,000 manats, enough to pay
off its the debts.
"We still haven't received the money due for papers sold between May
and August," he said. "I believe all this is being done to destroy
the publishing system in this country."
The Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety noted that Azadliq had
already been forced to pay large fines after defamation lawsuits,
including 30,000 manats to Tagi Ahmadov, head of the Baku Metro,
and 4,000 manats to Anar Mammadov, son of the transport minister.
Azadliq staff say their reporting ventures where other newspapers
dare not go.
"We write about corruption issues concerning the present government.
It controls most of the media, but it hasn't been able to touch
Azadliq," editor Rovshan Hajibayli said.
Other opposition-leaning papers are also vulnerable because of money
they owe to the state-run publishing company, and the collapse of
the retail network.
"We owe the publishing company more than 8,000 manats, and Gasid owes
us 18,000, which we're unable to get so as to pay off our debts,"
Rauf Arifogli, editor in chief of Yeni Musavat, said. "We face constant
pressures - court proceedings, insults and arrests. But it didn't used
to be direct interference. Now a mechanism has been put in place that
we aren't strong enough to resist."
The Gasid kiosk chain is headed by Mirkazim Kazimov, a member of
parliament from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party. He confirmed that
his company owed the newspapers money, but denied there was anything
unusual about that.
He rejected suggestions that Gasid shut down its outlets on orders
from the president's office, and said they were actually closed by
local government on the grounds that they were no longer fit for use.
"We don't have the money to replace the old kiosks with new ones.
Since our shares belong to the state, we can't take out a loan to
replace them," he said. "Newspapers are sold in shops, not just in
kiosks. We have no links to the presidential administration; we're
bound only by our contracts."
Since 2009, the government has issued funding to newspapers from the
State Fund for the Support of the Media, but media rights activists
say this does not make up for what opposition papers lose.
The Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety, IRFS, which campaigns
for a free press in Azerbaijan, said opposition papers faced an
effective advertising boycott, which reduced their income.
"IRFS urges the Azerbaijani government to end the pressure on the
opposition and independent media and calls on public officials to be
tolerant of alternative opinions and criticism," it said in a statement
(Institute for War and Peace Reporting).
Seymur Kazimov is a freelance journalist in Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress