Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.20
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The World Forum for Democracy kicked off in Strasbourg Nov.19 with participation of Azerbaijani media representatives.
During the "Civic engagement for freedom of media" panel held as part of the forum, unfounded remarks were expressed about the freedom of press in Azerbaijan.
There was an attempt to mislead the participants of the forum, chairman of the Central Asian and Southern Caucasian Freedom of Expression Network (CASCFEN) Azer Hasret told Trend.
The NGO head said that speaking on the panel, he informed the participants that these remarks have no grounds.
"The biggest lie during the panel was that funds allocated for military needs in the countries like Azerbaijan are spent on the maintenance of the press supporting the government," said Hasret. "I said that this has never happened in Azerbaijan and all these remarks are groundless."
During the panel, there were allegations about prohibitions and obstacles created for free activity of journalists in Azerbaijan, he added.
"I informed the participants that all these remarks are untrue," said Hasret. "I also noted that there are no obstacles to the activities of independent press in Azerbaijan, there are a lot of media outlets and journalists who can write about any part of the world."
Further, the NGO head pointed out that very strange proposals were put forward during the panel.
"It was proposed to ensure covert allocation of funds by western donor organizations for such countries as Azerbaijan. That's to say, so that the government would be unaware of these funds," he said. "All this surprised us much."
Hasret said that no one could give arguments in response to his remarks during the panel.
"Their attempt to mislead the audience failed, because those young people participating in the forum do not even know where Azerbaijan is located on the map, "he said. "So we exposed their lie about Azerbaijan."