Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 7 / Trend M.Aliyev /
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry commented on an anti-Azerbaijani program on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict prepared by Euronews this week.
"Someone is intentionally doing this at Euronews. If the television channel broadcast the program several days, then this is political," Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said.
The Azerbaijani embassies in Paris and Brussels are working on this issue, he added.
On Nov. 28, Euronews broadcast Michael Raikhman's report "Nagorno-Karabakh - Wind of Change," which the Azerbaijani diplomatic deemed a biased portrayal of the Karabakh war.
Although Nagorno-Karabakh has been recognized in international documents and by international organizations as Azerbaijani territory, the report calls the region the "heart" of Armenia.
"We received access from the Armenian government to go to Nagorno-Karabakh. Our intentions were to portray the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, the people involved in the conflict, the people of the region ... to see how they actually live," Euronews Editor-In-Chief Peter Barabas told Trend by telephone Dec. 4. "We were never intended in getting involved in the political aspect of the matter because of how sensitive the issue is between Azerbaijan and Armenia."
Euronews is also interested in making a program about Azerbaijani refugees who left the region as a result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Barabas said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
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