Gulnara Mammadzade, General Director of Novosti-Azerbaijan International News Agency.
It is very difficult to comment on the actions of our colleagues. It is very difficult to be objective in judging if a person is right or not. Moreover, in this case we deal not with one person, but a group of persons; individually and collectively they certainly have their motives and arguments.
My colleagues chose a way to protest the state, where in their opinions, human rights are violated and law is not the higher instance, but there are other ways and methods of expressing discontent with the negative actions appearing in the society. Are all means of protection of one's rights exhausted?
If now we are experiencing the so-called formation of civic society, how are the most active media representatives, who already unconsciously consider themselves as citizens of another country, remaining indifferent to that?
It is not ruled out that among those who consider this step as a challenge, a protest, or a means of attracting international attention to our present problems, there are also those who would like to find a comfortable life in success, as it seems it exists in the distant European countries on the political sly.
Despite objective and subjective motives of each person wishing to leave his/her country, the fact of refusing their Azerbaijani citizenship is an alarming signal for the state and the people responsible for the future of the country and each citizen. State structures should react to such signals, remove ongoing problems, but should not assist them to go beyond the country thus causing irreparable harm to the image of the country.