What do TVP World, The Independent, BBC and The Guardian want from Azerbaijan?

The fact that Western media outlets have for years approached developments in the South Caucasus, particularly those between Azerbaijan and Armenia, from a biased perspective, directly influenced by the Armenian lobby and from a one-sided position, is no secret.

During the 44-day Patriotic War and the subsequent local anti-terror operation, the fact that major media outlets such as the BBC and The Guardian ignored the 30-year occupation of Karabakh, our destroyed cities and the tragedy of thousands of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons, while portraying only one side as the “victim,” is clear evidence of this. In this regard, the systematic bias in the activities of these media organizations is an undeniable reality.

So, what do TVP World, The Independent, BBC and The Guardian want from Azerbaijan?

Articles published simultaneously in four different European media outlets in recent days — Poland’s TVP World and the UK’s The Independent, BBC and The Guardian — indicate that another deliberate instrument of pressure against Azerbaijan has been brought into play in the international information space. Although presented under different titles and covering different topics, these materials share a common objective: to cast a shadow over Azerbaijan’s international reputation and force Baku into a defensive position.

It is impossible to forget the double standards these organizations and media outlets have maintained toward Azerbaijan for years. For 30 years, while four UN Security Council resolutions remained on paper, nearly one million Azerbaijanis were driven from their homes, and our cities and villages were razed to the ground, these media outlets turned a blind eye to those tragedies. Now, after Azerbaijan has restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the fact that the same organizations have once again become active under the guise of human rights, freedom of speech or a “humanitarian tragedy” cannot be considered a coincidence.

A close look at the latest articles published by these outlets immediately reveals the serious bias and distortion within them. The Independent is openly distorting legal facts in an attempt to mislead public opinion. The Guardian, meanwhile, devoted a review to the documentary The Black Garden, which focuses on Armenians from Karabakh, while completely erasing the region’s 30-year history of occupation, the suffering endured by Azerbaijanis and the historical context. Presenting the conflict as if it began only yesterday and assessing human rights solely from the mono-ethnic perspective of one people is not professional journalism, but commissioned propaganda.

The claims contained in materials published by the BBC and TVP World are also similar in nature. By politicizing criminal cases being investigated within the legal framework and issues related to national security, they are attempting to portray Azerbaijan to Western audiences as an “authoritarian” regime. But the question is: Why do these media outlets not raise mass police violence, the persecution of journalists or human rights violations in Western countries with the same intensity? Why, when the subject is Azerbaijan, do they immediately resort to a coordinated offensive?

The adequate response from the Media Development Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the summoning of the Polish ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demonstrates the Azerbaijani state’s firm position against such information provocations. It is clear that Azerbaijan’s pursuit of an independent foreign policy and its emergence as a key decision-maker in regional transport and energy projects are causing concern among certain political and media circles in the West.

The materials simultaneously put forward by TVP World, The Independent, BBC and The Guardian are not separate journalistic investigations, but part of a unified and targeted information campaign against Azerbaijan. However, Azerbaijan, which dismantled diplomatic and information pressure on the battlefield in 2020, remains capable of defending its legitimate position and presenting the truth to the international community today as well.

Giymat Mahir