The Baku-based news agency Turan has been awarded the independent media institution the Freedom of Expression Foundation / Zeit Stiftung´s Free Press of Eastern Europe Award. Turan´s director Mehman Aliyev, right, is in Oslo to receive the prize. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights House Foundation jointly nominated Turan. Read our full nomination below. (21-JUNE-07)

Based on the nomination (below) and the Freedom of Expression Foundation´s invitation to the award ceremony, this article has been prepared for publication here by HRH F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.

Read the Norwegian Helsinki Committee´s and the Human Rights House Foundations´ full nomination:
 
Situation of the press freedom in Azerbaijan
Since Ilham Aliyev came to power in Azerbaijan succeeding his father in 2003, journalists and the media have experienced a disturbing deterioration in the already weak press freedom.  The incident that has drawn most attention is the murder of the editor of the weekly newspaper Monitor, Elmar Huseynov on 2 March 2005.  The case remains unsolved, but there is no doubt the murder was premeditated, and most likely a result of Huseynov’s relentless writings in the Monitor.  Huseynov became well-known in Azerbaijan through his quality investigating journalism and had written countless articles revealing corruption and abuse of power, often involving directly members of the government and close relatives of the president.  The death of Huseynov has been compared to the killing of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze in Ukraine five years earlier.   

A year and a half since the killing, the situation for the press freedom has worsened.  Azerbaijani media is kept under control by the authorities through violence and harassment against journalists, as well as by financial and administrative means. The attacks on the independent press in Azerbaijan in 2006, are illustrated by countless of lawsuits brought forth by government officials against newspapers and editors as well as physical attacks on a journalist from “Azadlig”, Fikret Huseynli and the editor of the Bizim Yol newspaper Bahaddin Haziyev.  Journalists critical towards the regime are deprived of their salaries and independent and opposition newspapers lose income from advertisements.  The independent press also experiences hampered printing and distribution, and receive unreasonable fines as the result of libel and tax cases instigated against them.  Despite the fact that Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries of the world and President Ilham Aliyev has stated that the fight against corruption is a high priority any publication about corruption among state employees is considered libel and punished strictly in a court system far from independent. 

As far as we know, no journalist or media outlet from this country has received important international prizes in recent years.  Under the current situation in Azerbaijan, an appreciation from Gerd Bucerius-Förderpreis/Freedom of Expression Foundation would be highly appreciated by all the courageous media workers and a welcome contribution to support independent press and bring international attention to the press situation in the country. 

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights House Foundation nominated the TURAN Information Agency from Azerbaijan as candidates for the Promotional Reward of The Freedom of Expression Foundation Young Press of the Russian Federation.
 
TURAN Information Agency, Baku Azerbaijan (www.turaninfo.com)
TURAN Information Agency was the first independent news agency created in the post soviet space. The agency was created in Baku in September 1990 by a group of journalists, and since that time has been led by Mehman Aliyev, a driving force in Azerbaijan’s media sector and civil society.

TURAN Information Agency’s mission is to provide accurate and objective information about the events in and around Azerbaijan. To achieve this TURAN offers a wide variety of products (over 20), from daily political, financial and energy bulletins, to reports on communications and highly anticipated analytical articles. The vast majority of these products are offered in real time on TURAN’s website in three languages (Azeri, Russian and English), as well as distributed in the print form.  A strong factor of TURAN is also its ability to objectively analyze the current situation in a country where most reporting is either reflection the views of the government or those of the opposition.  Prominent press organs throughout the world including BBC, Reuters and France Press subscribe to TURAN, along with embassies, businesses, NGOs and private individuals. 

The agency covers a wide specter of fields, and provides 13 different subscription- services in addition to the website www.turaninfo.com:

-Daily Political-Eventual bulletin
-Daily Economic Bulletin
-Daily Energy Bulletin
-Finance
-Telecommunication and information technologies
-Transport
-Analytical bulletin
-Monthly economic review
-Markets
-Tenders
-South Caucasian Review
-Religion and
-Photo service

Throughout TURAN’s over 15 years of existence, the Information Agency has established itself as one of the only independent voices in a country where Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press have come under frequent fire, particularly since 2003. In particular, TURAN is known for its gritty investigative reporting, which has exposed appalling scandals in both the political and business spheres of Azerbaijan. However, this reputation does not come without a price.

Two of TURAN’s journalists have been murdered, Farhad Kerimov was killed in the Chechen Republic in 1996 and Adil Buniyatov was killed on 17 March 1995 while covering clashes between protestors and police. Still numerous others have been the victims of vicious attacks; for example in 1997 Tapdig Farhadoglu was savagely attacked and in 2003 Emin Huseynov sustained severe spinal injuries at the hands of police, which reduced him to a Group II invalid.  Mehman Aliyev himself is also the frequent target of pressure. Three days prior to the murder of prominent journalist Elmar Husenyov (2 March 2005), he was warned to be careful. And in November 2005, Aliyev’s only child, six-year-old daughter Leyla, was brutally beaten by police during a sanctioned rally in what some feel may have been a targeted attack. Leyla suffered multiple fractures in her left leg and was in rehabilitation for nearly a year. Aliyev’s sister-in-law was also injured in this incident. She suffered a fractured collarbone and spent months in treatment, before finally recovering.

In recent years TURAN has also found itself the target of an underhanded campaign by government authorities to flood the news agency market and strangle off TURAN’s financial resources. Numerous supposedly independent news agencies, which are actually funded by the government and given preferential treatment with regards to news tips and advertisements, have sprung up, creating financial hardships for TURAN. While in the western world advertisements are the lifeblood of press agencies’ income, companies in Azerbaijan are often reluctant to work with TURAN, because they fear government retribution. 

Despite this Mehman Aliyev and TURAN carry on their courageous work and even have plans for growth and innovation – for example technical advances in their website and the creation of independent branches of the agency focused on specific topics.  Mehman Aliyev is also co-founder of a number of press structures in Azerbaijan, including the Press Council, Yeni Nesil Journalist Union, Elmar Huseynov Foundation and Baku Press Club.

Personal data of Mehman Aliyev, Director of TURAN News Agency: 
Date of Birth:  26 October 1957, Married, with one child. Educated at the Moscow State University Department of Journalism in 1988. 
Employment: 1990 – present: TURAN Information Agency, Director
1993 – Presidential Apparatus Office, Public Relations Manager
1989 to 1990 – Azerinform State Information agency, contributor
1988 to 1989 – “Molodej Azerbaijana”, newspaper contributor

List of sample articles in attachment, all written by Director Mehman Aliyev and published by TURAN.
1. “Azerbaijan has all resources for rapid and qualitative press development”
2. “Once again “support” by the West of freedom of mass media in Azerbaijan”
3. “European model as the basis of information of single Caucasian space”
4. “Gas manipulation of freezing country”
5. “President does not want or cannot harness black disorder of air”

Contact details
TURAN INFORMATION AGENCY:
Azerbaijan Republic, AZ1000, Baku, Khagani 33 Telephone: (99412) 598-42-26, 493-59-67
fax: (99412) 598-38-17
E-MAIL
turan@azdata.net