YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. 14th annual South Caucasus Media Conference on "fake news", disinformation and freedom of the media took place in Tbilisi on May 10-11 organized by the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media.

“Armenpress” reports Azerbaijani MFA Spokesperson Hikmat Hajiyev was among the speakers of the 2nd-day session themed “Approaches on responding to disinformation and propaganda”. The latter, entirely deviating from the topic of the session, referred to Nagorno Karabakh conflict reiterating all the traditional formulations. He spoke about the propaganda conducted by Armenia and Armenian lobby against Azerbaijan, saying that the Armenian side refutes the fact of the “occupation”, presents Nagorno Karabakh issue as a demonstration of implementation of self-determination, refutes the Azerbaijani history at the same time allegedly exterminating any Azerbaijani trace in the region. Hajiyev also referred to various responds criticizing Azerbaijan over Lapshin’s case, trying to present them as the result of Armenian propaganda.

Hajiyev particularly complained of the Armenian lobby, noting that the latter directs its resources at discrediting Azerbaijan’s reputation in international media (Washington post, The Guardian etc.). As an example Hajiyev referred to the anti-Azerbaijani articles published in leading news outlets ahead the European games, stressing that those media outlets refused to publish the Azerbaijani respond that presented its opinion on various issues.

The Armenian representatives at the Conference responded to Hajiyev’s remarks, noting that though he had mentioned at the beginning of his speech that he will not present the positions of the Azerbaijani government, he repeated those positions point by point. It was stated that anti-Armenian propaganda is conducted in Azerbaijan, while the Azerbaijani president declares the entire Armenian people his number 1 enemy.

As refers to the conflict, the Armenian representatives noted that the conflict is around the right of self-determination – The people of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) has the right to self-determination and has already expressed its free will, but it’s another question that Azerbaijan does not want to accept that fact. And this is not disinformation but evidence-based reality.

Referring to Lapshin’s case, the Armenian representatives noted that Foreign Ministry of Armenia has expressed its official position on the issue, adding that the given case is another step by Azerbaijan to oppress freedom of speech.

Referring to Hajiyev’s claims over Azerbaijani historical-cultural monuments in Artsakh, the Armenian representatives assessed them as groundless, advising to read the works of Armenian archeologist S. Karapetyan on Azerbaijani monuments in Artsakh, as well as the efforts to preserve and reconstruct them. Instead, everyone is well aware of the fate of Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan (The destruction of the Armenian cemetery in Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan).

At the same time the Armenian representatives urged the Azerbaijani side not to turn the conference into a platform of anti-Armenian propaganda and to focus on the discussion of the topic of the conference.

Interestingly, Hajiyev’s fiery speech was also criticized by the moderator of the session, who interrupting Hajiyev’s speech, advised him not to deviate from the topic of the session and speak about the methods of struggling against disinformation.

Hajiyev also raised the issue of creating fake websites and accounts by Armenians, particularly pointing out the incident with Haqqin.az website. In this context expert Danny Burns (Regional director of the institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety) referred to Hajiyev’s fierce protection of Haqqin.az website when the latter is famous for spreading disinformation.

The discussions were active also on the first day of the conference, during which one of the Azerbaijani journalists announced that the access to some special areas and zones for journalists, as well as information on them is limited and no information is available except the official position. Responding that announcement, the Azerbaijani MFA spokesperson noted that one should not complain of such limitations, since these limitations are imposed for the safety of the journalists. At the same time Hajiyev tried to justify all these limitations by the traditional approaches of the Azerbaijani propaganda machine – there is conflict and occupied territories.

In response, the representative of MFA Armenia stressed that in contrast to the policy of the Azerbaijani authorities limiting the activities of news outlets, the authorities of Artsakh did not impose any form of limitation on local or international media during the large-scale aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in April, 2016. At the same time it was mentioned that all the possible conditions were created back then for the free and smooth functioning of media, so as they could get acquainted with the situation on site, but not through the eyes of the government.

During the discussions of the proposals and recommendations Hajiyev and the Azerbaijani delegation tried to encompass a point in the text of the document that would oblige foreign reporters to receive permit from the Azerbaijani authorities for visiting Artsakh, but thanks to the efforts of the Armenian delegation the attempts was foiled.