STATEMENT BY REPRESENTATIVES OF AZERBAIJAN MASS MEDIA
It has to be especially noted that at the elections, all candidates had equal conditions and the necessary measures were taken for them to conduct their election campaign, hold meetings and deliver their programs to the public.
Azerbaijan lives responsible period of its independent history. In state and society, conduction of all the processes in the frame of law, in compliance with Constitution and on the ground of respect for human rights and freedoms, from the viewpoint of ensuring stable development, is of first order significance. Unfortunately, some opposition candidates abuse the democratic atmosphere created in the country, and both during the election campaign and after the elections, have attempted to cause disorder, confrontation, anarchy, and civil disobedience.
Leaders of the Musavat, ADP, Umid and other Parties, on October 15 and 16, called on their supporters to come out to the streets to forcibly assume the power, stir up a revolt, and demonstrate disobedience towards legal requirements of the law-enforcers, make unrest, anarchy, chaos in the country. The specially prepared groups crowded the streets in Baku, committed actions of vandalism, robbery, assassination, attacked on the peaceful residents and foreign guests, heavily injured them, attempted to destabilize the situation.
As the result of destructive commitments of these groups, representatives of the County’s media organs, performing their professional duties, were injured, subjected to harassment and threats. The most horrible is that all these actions took place with the provocations and calls of the Party leaders, in front of their eyes. These commitments of the radical opposition leaders, who call themselves as “democratic forces”, as the whole people of Azerbaijan, made us rather indignant and furious, too.
Press and TV representatives condemn this bloody action and barbarism, implemented by direct instruction and leadership of Isa Gambar, assess these planned and realized destructive commitments as an encroachment upon Azerbaijani statehood, attempt to overturn the legal power, cause arbitrariness and anarchy as in the 1992-1993s in the Country.
We, mass media representatives demand that the organizers and executors of the 15-16 October events in the capital be detained and brought to response, and relevant state bodies should undertake necessary measures to isolate them as dangerous person from society. Media representatives cannot realize their professional duties in the conditions where such criminal elements openly act and always feel jeopardy and pressure and are subjected to physical harassment and insult.
Taking into account the above-mentioned, we state that further we cut all our links with the leaders and functionaries of the opposition Parties as Musavat, ADP and Umid, attempting to roughly violate human rights and abusing the ensured freedom of word and pluralism, subjecting media representatives to physical harassment and insult, and reject to participate at their arrangements and cover their positions.
The Statement was signed by 63 media organs
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