Azerbaijani journalist Rauf Mirkadirov’s deportation from Turkey and his subsequent detention, charged with espionage upon arrival in Baku have raised strong international reaction. However, in Turkey itself, there has been very little response to the news.
The daily Cumhuriyet, which gave the most prominent coverage to the news, reported the development with a headline “The foreign journalist gets deported”. Cumhuriyet also commented that the pressures on Turkey’s own media have taken on a new turn.
The online newspaper Diken said Mr Mirkadirov was “deported for his critical comments about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan but charged with espionage in his own country”.
Various media freedom organisations in Turkey have been slow to respond to Mirkadirov’s fate.
However, foreign observers and media freedom campaigners have criticised Turkey’s decision to cancel Mr Mirkadirov’s work permit and his deportation. Freedom House expressed grave concern and called the circumstances of Turkey’s decision to send Mirkadirov to his country and his immediate arrest in Azerbaijan a “highly suspicious development”, coming shortly after a visit by Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan to Baku. “The governments of both Turkey and Azerbaijan are obligated to ensure Mr. Mirkadyrov’s safety, and the charges against him should be dropped.” Freedom House said.
Condemning authorities in Baku for charging Rauf Mirkadirov with high treason, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Azerbaijan “to drop the trumped-up charges and stop abusing the law to silence independent reporting on the country”. In a statement, the CPJ said Azerbaijan was “quickly becoming one of the leading jailers of journalists in the Eurasia region.”
Mr Mirkadirov’s civil society activities, particularly his contacts with Armenian journalists seem to have turned him into a target.
Journalists that follow or participate in conflict prevention and resolution efforts, particularly over Azerbaijan’s dispute with Armenia will see his arrest as a chilling warning. While it is open to discussion whether the journalists have a legitimate role in solving conflict, there is no doubt that the media can exacerbate animosities.
Whilst being largely unresponsive to the Mirkadirov case, nevertheless, there has been a growing unease in Turkey about a suspected deal between President Aliyev and Prime Minister Erdoğan to cooperate in order to silence opponents of the regimes in both countries.
Ever since Mr Erdoğan’s visit to Baku earlier this month, Turkish media has been speculating about a “dossier of names, handed to Mr Aliyev, of people to be arrested in Azerbaijan”. These refer to Fethullah Gülen supporters in Azerbaijan. Turkish commentators claim that the Prime Minister took his battle with Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsyvenia-based preacher- turned government opponent to Azerbaijan.
Mr Mirkadirov is not the first Azerbaijani journalist to be deported from Turkey. In February, another columnist, Mahir Zeynalov, writing in a Fethullah Gülen community publication, Today’s Zaman, was expelled on unspecified charges.
Barçın Yınanç, a prominent Turkish journalist writing in Hurriyet Daily News commented on 22 April that Turkey and Azerbaijan relations are having a new honeymoon period lately. She has not mentioned Mr Mirkadirov’s case; but on Turkey’s changing relationship with Azerbaijan, Ms Yinanç emphasised the fast growing commercial links between the two countries.
“Long gone are the days when Turkish missions abroad used to allocate offices for the diplomats of the young Azerbaijani republic. Azerbaijan is currently set to become the number one foreign direct investor in Turkey. It owns a TV station and a newspaper in Turkey. It has set up a huge think tank in Istanbul” she wrote.
Yınanç also quoted a retired Turkish diplomat, Volkan Vural saying that Azerbaijan had more leverage on Turkey than Turkey has on Azerbaijan.
This post is also available in: Turkish
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