BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 7. In Azerbaijan, journalists are held liable not for their journalistic endeavors but for obtaining opaque money from other entities and for becoming agents of influence in clandestine political initiatives of foreign governments, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee Zahid Oruj said, Trend reports.
He made the remark at the plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament today, during the discussion of the annual report on the protection of human rights in the country by the commissioner for human rights for 2024.
"For instance, the 'Abzas Media' initiative is not a media conduit; rather, it serves as a platform for hybrid warfare and espionage. BBC, Voice of America, Russia Today, and other media entities, as well as organizations operating under cultural and humanitarian umbrellas such as UNDP and Russian House, are all included in the principles that our state has adopted, which are entirely in accordance with international laws and national dignity principles. Our country demands a symmetric relationship; otherwise, restrictive measures are decided. That is, the attitude exhibited towards us is reiterated.," the committee chairman said.
Oruj additionally articulated the operational frameworks and strategic initiatives of human rights organizations.
"HRW, Freedom House, and other organizations have not dedicated a report in the last four years to the return of Zangilan or Shusha residents to their liberated lands, including mine terrorism. The selective application of human rights has become a domain for those acting as legal exploiters and global prosecutors. The reign of legal monopolists is already failing.
The local offices of several UN agencies, as well as the Red Cross Society, compared to the 1990s, were serving anti-Azerbaijani plans during the Patriotic War and after. A new international organization regarding missing persons is now in Baku, and it will serve humanitarian purposes without any political agenda," the MP added.
On February 3, 2025, Azerbaijan sent a diplomatic note to Russia requesting the closure of the Russian House after informing the Russian side that the Rossotrudnichestvo representative office in Azerbaijan, officially known as the Russian Information and Cultural Center, was not registered as a legal entity and was operating in violation of Azerbaijani law.
Later, the representative office of Russia Today (Sputnik) in Azerbaijan was shut down, with the understanding that they could only have one correspondent in the mix.
Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel