ANS is back on air

ANS TV channel, which had been banned to broadcast since 24 November 2006, was allowed to resume broadcasting by the National TV and Radio Council (NTRC). Being explained by the “goodwill of the president Aliyev”, the decision of the NTRC allows ANS to broadcast its previous frequencies until the release of the tender results in February 2007. Participation of ANS in the tender was one of the conditions for the temporary restoration of ANS broadcast. (12-DEC-06)

Written by Shahla Ismailova/HRH Baku on the basis of information received from Turan IA, DayAZ IA, Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety, ANS TV channel; photos by Turan IA.

Founded in 1991 ANS is considered as one of the most viewed and professional TV channels in Azerbaijan. ANS TV and ANS FM radio were taken off air on 24 November without being allowed to appeal an NTRC decision. The stop of ANS broadcasting caused the biggest scope of discussions not only in Azerbaijan, but also in international community.

Internal reaction
The decision on the return of ANS to air was welcomed warmly by human rights organizations and activists. Although the previous decision was based on the argument of “legal problems”, the discussions around the issue does not exclude the political reasons. According to Mehman Aliyev (on the right), the director of Turan Info Agency “Azerbaijan’s government is temporarily restoring ANS broadcast to lessen pressure from the international community. ANS in its former at least somewhat independent and objective state will probably never be seen again”.

PACE
Tony Lloyd, co-rapporteur of PACE Monitoring Committee on the honoring of obligations and commitments by Azerbaijan; stressed the importance that “Azerbaijan as a whole realizes that it needs to honor its commitments to have free media”.

Reporters without Borders
Connecting the statement of NTRC “thanks to the president’s goodwill”, Reporters without Borders said “We hail these encouraging developments, which are the result of international pressure on the Azeri government, but we fear that these concessions are just a temporary ploy by the government to appease its critics, and that a new crackdown could follow.”

OSCE
The acting head of OSCE office Robin Seaword said “we commend this decision, which signals some political flexibility by the NTRC in the view of the public’s desire to see the channel on air. We understand that no conditions accompany the decision to allow the resumption of ANS work and hope to see an unchanged line of the channel as confirmation of that”.