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Fatima Latifova

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The fact that Armenia is searching for a new provocation tool, concentrating on the news in the Azerbaijani media, indicates the hollowness of the country's agenda and the ineptitude of the propaganda used in the political sphere.

The Armenian media used the opportunity to complain to the international community and exaggerate the situation following the recent Toplum TV incidents in Azerbaijan.

Still, one must question how free the Armenian people actually are and what is the current situation about the human rights and freedom of press in Armenia.

In retrospect, in April 2002, for example, two independent television stations, Noyan Tapan and A1+, revoked their broadcasting licenses in what was widely seen as a politically motivated move. Subsequent efforts to renew those licenses have failed; as recently as October 13, 2003, A1+ was turned down again. In October 2002, independent journalist Mark Grigorian–then preparing an investigative report on the 1999 terrorist attack in the Parliament which resulted in eight deaths–was himself the victim of a grenade attack (which he survived).

In December 2002, Tigran Nagdalian, Chairman of the National Public Television Board, was murdered. In April 2003, journalist Mger Galechian was seriously beaten after the newspaper for which he worked, Chorrord Ishkanutyun, ran an article critical of the head of Armenia’s National Security Services. Journalists were also the victims of harassment and intimidation during presidential elections in 2003. On September 27, 2003, Gayone Mukoyan, editor-in-chief of Yerevan’s Or newspaper, was beaten.

If these events seem too old to talk about, we might as well look through recent years.

Upon assuming office, one of Pashinyan's primary targets was the director of Haynews.am, Mher Yeghiazaryan, who was charged with fraud and passed away in prison on January 26, 2019, following a hunger strike. As a result, there were coordinated attacks on the site's editorial office even after his incarceration.

After the Second Garabagh War, more than two thousand protesters demanding Pashinyan's resignation were arrested on the streets of Yerevan.

Although defamation was decriminalized last year, politicians and private businesses often bring civil cases against journalists and media outlets, dragging them into lengthy legal battles, and threatening heavy financial penalties. A local media advocacy group reported that media outlets faced 23 new defamation suits from January through September.

In March 2023, parliament passed amendments establishing additional grounds for denying public information requests. Under the new regulation, an agency can refuse to provide information if it contains “official information of limited distribution,” vague language that opens the door to unwarranted censorship.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, not only the media but also the civilian population of the country are subjected to various pressures.

In June last year, the independent Monitoring Group of Institutions for Children, Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities reported violence against children at a child support center and alleged that a police officer mistreated one of the children. Authorities did not investigate the allegations, claiming that the report did not include enough factual information.

In another case, Armenian law enforcement bodies dropped a criminal investigation into the April beating by a senior police officer of a 17-year-old child who was working as a waiter in a restaurant at the time. The prosecutor claimed that the perpetrator “fully regretted” his actions and apologized to the victim. Following public outcry, law enforcement bodies reopened the investigation, suspended the officer from active duty, and charged him with causing a child severe physical pain.

These represent but a handful of the numerous offenses against common individuals and the civilian populace that remain undisclosed to the press. Naturally, when it comes to the media, the government that engages in this hooliganism against its people is more vicious.

Despite the fact that Armenia has no media freedom, this country even has the audacity to blame the Azerbaijan government for being cruel to the media and free speech. It should not be forgotten that those who turned Azerbaijan into an independent country were free Azerbaijanis who once stood against the Soviet regime and sacrificed their lives in this way. The freedom of expression and determination of the Azerbaijani people are the main reasons why Azerbaijan is developing today and conveying its voice to the world.

As for the initiation of police searches against "members of the media" in the country, it is enough to call it an exaggeration of the issue by the behind-the-scenes forces who use it as a tool for their own purposes.

The media is just a tool for the West to push itself through the hole that seems to be tough enough, which makes it possible to carry out plans through many social media channels. But why did the Western institutions not react to it when the territories of Azerbaijan were under occupation and the rights of more than a million refugees and internally displaced persons were violated. Today, the arrest of a group of people who are trying to create panic and agitation in the country and present themselves as "media representatives" is more interesting to the West? After all, how is it that these institutions, which ignore the violated rights of more than a million people, are so concerned about a few media rackets?

If they are talking about free media, then they should remember the Second Garabagh War in 2020. At that time, a dark cloud was hovering over the country. Western media organizations "defending free speech" launched a campaign against Azerbaijan. According to them, everything seems to be right in the world, only Azerbaijan was disrupting the world order.

However, the truth found its place, Azerbaijan got rid of an element as dangerous as Armenian separatism. Today, the struggle continues against the Western forces that support them. Azerbaijan's struggle is not to stifle free speech, but to expose those who commit heinous acts under the slogan of "free speech".

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