Azerbaijani officials said on Thursday that the country had ordered the BBC to shut down its office, a move the British broadcaster condemned as “an action against press freedom.”
Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, has long faced accusations of suppressing the media and cracking down on political opponents in the energy-rich Caucasus nation.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizade stated that Baku informed the BBC that it had no “legal basis” to operate a representative office in Azerbaijan.
He did not provide further details regarding the forced closure.
In a statement, the BBC said: “Following a verbal directive from Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, the BBC has unwillingly decided to close its office in the country.”
“We deeply regret this restrictive measure against media freedom, which will hinder our ability to report on Azerbaijan for our audiences both inside and outside the country.”
The BBC’s Azeri-language service has approximately one million weekly viewers and has been operating in the country since 1994.
Azerbaijan’s Hajizade accused the BBC of attempting to “politicize” the matter and of engaging in “double standards.”
He added that the closure of the local office does not affect the accreditation rights of a BBC correspondent.
According to the rights group Reporters Without Borders, Azerbaijan is among the worst places in the world for press freedom.
Its website states that “virtually the entire media sector is under government control” and that “authorities continue to suppress independent media and journalists who refuse self-censorship.”
Without providing further details, Baku also stated that “similar decisions” had been made regarding “other foreign media organizations.”
