Foreign TV channel suspends repeat showing of anti-Azerbaijani film

Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 26 / Trend S.Agayeva /

A German-French channel has suspended the repeat showing of an anti-Azerbaijani film amid complaints from the Azerbaijani government and the diaspora community.

The ARTE TV channel has acknowledged the international community's position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Elchin Amirbeyov told Trend.

The channel is familiar with its government's position on the issue and is sensitive to the issue of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, ARTE TV President Jerome Clement wrote in a recent letter to the Azerbaijani Embassy in France.

On July 14, ARTE TV broadcast and posted on its website the film, "Haut Karabagh: Gomchassar," by Jean-Marie Barre, which abstracts facts about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The purpose of the film was to inform the French audience about the traditions, nature and mythology of Nagorno Karabakh - not to reflect upon the geopolitical situation in the mountainous region, the letter continued.

Earlier, the embassy sent a letter of protest to ARTE TV.

Following the embassy's reaction, the channel's management decided to suspend the repeat broadcast of the film scheduled for July 21.

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 seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the United States - are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied territories.

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