Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 November / Trend corr. I.Alizade / Official Baku believes foreign radio stations are not retransmitted so freely in any other country than in Azerbaijan.
"Taking into consideration the international experience, radio stations are not retransmitted so freely in any other countries, as in Azerbaijan," Elnur Aslanov, the head of the Political Analyses and Dataware Department of the Presidential Administration, told Trend on 7 November.
The BBC, Svoboda and the Voice of America radio stations would stop live broadcast in the country by the end of 2008, Nushiravan Maharramli, the chairman of the Azerbaijan National Broadcasting Council (NBC) said on 31 October. "At the end of this year all foreign radio stations will lose the frequencies through which they broadcast in Azerbaijan. Foreign radio stations will broadcast via satellite, internet and cable network," said Maharramli.
"Decision of the Council will be publicized after a general meeting and then it will be possible to assess steps of the National Council's members, who have independent opinions and make decisions independently, basing on the national legislation and international experience," Aslanov said.
"As to this issue, I want to mention that the leadership of the country has created all conditions for pluralism of opinions and expressing different positions. However, everybody should remember on legislation and international experience," the head of the department said. The fixed legalities should be considered differently rather seeking to provide supremacy of law, he believes.
The official of the US Department of State is seriously concerned over suspension of foreign radio stations in Azerbaijan.
"We believe radio stations, which will be suspended in Azerbaijan, introduced a lot of new things in development of democratization in the country," Robert Wood, an official of the US Department of State, said in his speech for media.
The United States seeks to hold dialogue with Azerbaijan to clear up the situation, Wood said.
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