Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BAKU1440
2006-10-03 13:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baku
Cable title:
LEADING AZERBAIJANI NEWSPAPERS, REPORTEDLY UNDER
how-toVZCZCXRO8156 PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHKB #1440 2761324 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 031324Z OCT 06 FM AMEMBASSY BAKU TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1372 INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001440
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: LEADING AZERBAIJANI NEWSPAPERS, REPORTEDLY UNDER
THREAT, CEASE PUBLICATION
Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse for Reasons 1.4 b and d.
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001440
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: LEADING AZERBAIJANI NEWSPAPERS, REPORTEDLY UNDER
THREAT, CEASE PUBLICATION
Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse for Reasons 1.4 b and d.
1. (SBU) Azerbaijani press reports state that prominent
Russian-language news magazine Realny Azerbaijan and its
Azerbaijani language sister publication Gundelik Azerbaijan,
under pressure from unidentified sources, will cease
publication on October 3. Realny Azerbaijan's well-known
founder and editor Eynulla Fatullayev, told political analyst
Eldar Namazov that unidentified assailants kidnapped his
father on September 30. According to Namazov's unconfirmed
report, Fatullayev's father was smoking a cigarette in the
courtyard of his house when a group of men attacked him,
placed a bag over his head and threw him into a waiting car.
In Namazov's account, Fatullayev came home immediately and
called the kidnappers at a number they left. The kidnappers
threatened to kill the father unless Fatullayev shut down his
publications, abandoned journalism and left the country.
Fatullayev agreed to close the papers immediately after
publishing a final edition on October 3. Realny Azerbaijan
posted announcement of the sudden closure on its website
October 2. Fatullayev's father was then released. He also
told Namazov that he intends to leave the country soon.
(Fatullayev has kept his mobile phone off since October 2 and
we have not been able to reach him.)
2. (C) Realny Azerbaijan is the country's most widely read
newsmagazine. Often sensationalist, the magazine has
repeatedly published "inside" investigations of senior GOAJ
officials, in particular singling out Minister of Internal
Affairs Ramil Usubov and Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov for
their alleged connection to the Haji Mammedov murder and
extortion gang within the MIA. Fatullayev was previously the
deputy editor of Elmar Huseynov's Monitor magazine, which
ceased publication in April 2005 after Huseynov's murder.
Civil society commentators allege that Fatullayev has close
ties to Minister of Emergency Situations Kameladdin Heydarov
which provided Realny Azerbaijan with direct access to
sources within the GOAJ. Some civil society commentators
believe the pressure on Realny Azerbaijan to be the result of
internal infighting between Usubov and Fatullayev's patrons
in the government. Namazov alleged that Fatullayev was about
to publish information implicating Usubov in the Mammedov
gang.
3. (C) Comment: We view new reports of pressure exerted on
Fatullayev with a great deal of concern, and are
investigating the story. If true, this incident is the latest
in a series of troubling attacks on journalists that point to
a serious erosion in Azerbaijan's media environment. OSCE
Special Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos
Haraszti will be in Baku October 9, and we will urge the
OSCE, on behalf of the international community, to deliver a
tough, focused message on the recent deterioration in media
freedoms in Azerbaijan.
DERSE
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM AJ
SUBJECT: LEADING AZERBAIJANI NEWSPAPERS, REPORTEDLY UNDER
THREAT, CEASE PUBLICATION
Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse for Reasons 1.4 b and d.
1. (SBU) Azerbaijani press reports state that prominent
Russian-language news magazine Realny Azerbaijan and its
Azerbaijani language sister publication Gundelik Azerbaijan,
under pressure from unidentified sources, will cease
publication on October 3. Realny Azerbaijan's well-known
founder and editor Eynulla Fatullayev, told political analyst
Eldar Namazov that unidentified assailants kidnapped his
father on September 30. According to Namazov's unconfirmed
report, Fatullayev's father was smoking a cigarette in the
courtyard of his house when a group of men attacked him,
placed a bag over his head and threw him into a waiting car.
In Namazov's account, Fatullayev came home immediately and
called the kidnappers at a number they left. The kidnappers
threatened to kill the father unless Fatullayev shut down his
publications, abandoned journalism and left the country.
Fatullayev agreed to close the papers immediately after
publishing a final edition on October 3. Realny Azerbaijan
posted announcement of the sudden closure on its website
October 2. Fatullayev's father was then released. He also
told Namazov that he intends to leave the country soon.
(Fatullayev has kept his mobile phone off since October 2 and
we have not been able to reach him.)
2. (C) Realny Azerbaijan is the country's most widely read
newsmagazine. Often sensationalist, the magazine has
repeatedly published "inside" investigations of senior GOAJ
officials, in particular singling out Minister of Internal
Affairs Ramil Usubov and Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov for
their alleged connection to the Haji Mammedov murder and
extortion gang within the MIA. Fatullayev was previously the
deputy editor of Elmar Huseynov's Monitor magazine, which
ceased publication in April 2005 after Huseynov's murder.
Civil society commentators allege that Fatullayev has close
ties to Minister of Emergency Situations Kameladdin Heydarov
which provided Realny Azerbaijan with direct access to
sources within the GOAJ. Some civil society commentators
believe the pressure on Realny Azerbaijan to be the result of
internal infighting between Usubov and Fatullayev's patrons
in the government. Namazov alleged that Fatullayev was about
to publish information implicating Usubov in the Mammedov
gang.
3. (C) Comment: We view new reports of pressure exerted on
Fatullayev with a great deal of concern, and are
investigating the story. If true, this incident is the latest
in a series of troubling attacks on journalists that point to
a serious erosion in Azerbaijan's media environment. OSCE
Special Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklos
Haraszti will be in Baku October 9, and we will urge the
OSCE, on behalf of the international community, to deliver a
tough, focused message on the recent deterioration in media
freedoms in Azerbaijan.
DERSE