Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Alizade / The US Embassy in Baku will be taking serious steps in connection with the appeal from the Azerbaijani journalists for asylum, Uzeyir Jafarov, the Editor-in-Chief of Gunbdelik Azerbaijan newspaper, informed Trend. Jafarov discussed this issue in Baku on 23 August at 13.00 hours with two high-ranking employees of the US Embassy.
"Recently, the US Embassy will take serious steps to provide the journalists with political asylum and resolve the press problems," he said.
At the beginning of May, the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security confiscated equipment belonging to Gundelik Azerbaijan and Realniy Azerbaijan, and the publisher was forced to cease its activities. They were later re-instated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The journalists appealed to various countries for political asylum. Employees from other newspapers later also joined them in their appeal. Their appeal was refused by various embassies. With regards to the US Embassy in Baku, which received appeals from 21 journalists, discussions are currently being held. Jafarov said that the US Embassy will invite other journalists wishing to have political asylum. The embassy is discussing the issue with other official bodies.