MFA: "Deutsche Welle" TV flagrantly violated principles of freedom of expression and the press

Baku. 3 August. REPORT.AZ/ Head of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev expressed his attitude towards the program prepared by TV channel "Deutsche Welle" (DW) about the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Report informs, H. Hajiyev noted that aired on July 31, the program entitled "Tension in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict grows" prepared by the "Deutsche Welle" (DW) public television channel of the Federal Republic of Germany was full of prejudice and far from neutral and objective journalism principles.

According to him, illegal visit of DW "crew" to the occupied Azerbaijani territories is a violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan: "The program includes only false statements of the "military and civilian representatives" of the self-proclaimed regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. In essence, TV program is campaigning criminal regime established in the occupied territories as a result of the bloody policy of ethnic cleansing by Armenia against the Azerbaijani people, and is an example of disrespect for the Azerbaijani public and more than a million victims of conflict, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)."

H.Hajiyev added that such an approach is regarded as a gross violation of the principles of freedom of expression and strict abuse of these freedoms: "Serious discontent makes the fact that, the public TV channel "DW" is financed by the state budget in Germany. The Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Federal Republic of Germany intends apply officially to the state bodies of the country. We hope that, the relevant structures included in the membership of the OSCE Minsk Group in Germany will express their formal opinion, investigating the issue and will present their position regarding the program, which contradicts to the freedom of media."