Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani youths living and studying in Europe protested outside the Euronews TV channel’s office in the French town of Lyon Friday to condemn a recent broadcast defying Azerbaijan. The picket, which deplored the unilateral coverage of the situation in Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation, was joined by up to 50 people from seven European cities, according to the Ireli (Forward) public union, which organized the protest.
The Euronews report, "Upper Garabagh: a wind of change", gave a biased assessment of the war fought by Armenia and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. It regarded the self-proclaimed Upper Garabagh republic as "an independent state" while separatist leader Bako Saakian was presented as ‘Upper Garabagh’s president." The report, aired on November 28, went as far as describing Upper Garabagh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and has no geographic link with Armenia, as "the heart of Armenia." The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry has condemned the broadcast in a letter to Euronews.
The pickets demanded that the TV channel put an end to airing such biased reports, holding posters calling for fair international coverage of the situation in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. They chanted in English and French such slogans as "Respect the truth", "Garabagh is Azerbaijani territory" and "Journalism requires proficiency". The protesters also forwarded a resolution to the Euronews administration.
Peter Barabas, the Euronews chief editor, said he understood the pickets’ demands, pledging that the TV channel’s reporters would visit Azerbaijan January 17 to prepare a report about the refugees affected by the armed conflict. He said Euronews has already received relevant authorization from the Azerbaijan Presidential Administration.
The Azerbaijani President’s spokesman Azer Gasymov confirmed that Barabas had contacted them and Euronews reporters have sought to visit Baku. He said the government did not object to the request to prepare a report reflecting Azerbaijan’s views on the Garabagh conflict, adding that the Euronews editor had expressed a desire to visit Baku in person.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded.*