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‘Trust No One’: Exiled Azerbaijani Reporter Says He’s Being Hunted In Kyiv

March 19, 2018 By administrator

Fikret Huseynli was stabbed, beaten, and left for dead by unknown assailants in Baku in 2006.

Fikret Huseynli was stabbed, beaten, and left for dead by unknown assailants in Baku in 2006.

Fikret Huseynli, a journalist who fled his homeland of Azerbaijan over a decade ago, says he got word early on March 5 that suspicious-looking men were trying to track him down in Kyiv.

Later that day, Huseynli told RFE/RL in a recent interview, four men whom he suspects were linked to the Azerbaijani security services turned up at the door of his rented apartment in the Ukrainian capital.

Claiming to be police and speaking both Ukrainian and Azeri, they told him they’d been sent to detain him and that he’d be extradited “within 48 hours” back to Azerbaijan, where Huseynli faces what he and supporters call trumped-up charges linked to his past reporting, much of it focusing on corruption at the highest echelons of power in the energy-rich Caucasus country.

“They tried to break down the door. They punched me, and I lost three teeth. With the help of others, I managed to close the door, and I escaped through the balcony,” Huseynli told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service in Kyiv on March 14.

Huseynli, a correspondent for the independent Azerbaijani online television channel Turan, has been stuck in the Ukrainian capital since October, when authorities stopped him from boarding a flight to Germany, seizing his documents under an Interpol red notice requested by Baku. He remains in legal limbo as Ukraine decides what to do with him.

International media watchdogs have urged Kyiv not to aid Baku in its efforts to track down critics beyond its borders, and to return Huseynli’s passport and other documents to him so he can return to the Netherlands, where he currently resides.

Ukrainian officials have been conspicuous in their silence, releasing few if any statements on Huseynli’s plight.

It’s not the first such case in Ukraine. An Uzbek journalist was detained at an airport in Kyiv in September on the basis of an Interpol red notice, an alert sent out to police worldwide notifying them about an arrest request from one of Interpol’s 192 member countries. Critics charge is often abused by repressive governments in order to pursue dissidents after they have fled abroad.

‘Lost Faith’ In Ukrainian System

Huseynli says that after the attack he headed for the the embassy of the Netherlands, the country that first granted him asylum, then citizenship, after he went into self-exile in 2008.

Along with human rights campaigners in Ukraine, staff at the embassy urged Huseynli to report what had happened with the police, advice he did not take.

“I don’t trust the police, the courts, no one. I’ve been in Ukraine for six months without any documents, completely helpless,” explains Huseynli.

Huseynli, describing himself as a “political hostage,” claims suspected security-service agents have been shadowing him in the Ukrainian capital.

“I continue to be watched. Some of them are Slavic looking, some are similar to Azeris. And these aren’t street thugs. I think they work for security services; maybe Azerbaijan’s, maybe Ukraine’s or Russia’s,” says Huseynli.

Huseynli has said elsewhere that on the day of the alleged attack, unidentified men approached him with an offer: report positively on the Azerbaijani government and negatively on the opposition. Do this, they allegedly said, and the extradition request is dropped. If you don’t, they warned, unclear repercussions would follow.

International press watchdogs have highlighted Huseynli’s predicament.

“We call on Ukrainian authorities to immediately return travel documents to Fikret Huseynli and allow him to leave Ukraine,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. “Kyiv must not be complicit with Azerbaijan authorities’ persecution of critics beyond its borders. We also call on Ukrainian police to investigate the March 5 physical attack on Huseynli, and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Ukraine’s prosecutor-general did not respond to questions about the case from RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.

Looking To Set Up A Bureau

Huseynli, the current head of the Amsterdam bureau of Turan, a Baku-based news agency that offers reporting in Azeri, Russia, and English on its website portal, arrived in Kyiv on October 7, 2017, to check out possibly opening a bureau in the Ukrainian capital.

Huseynli was about to board a flight to Dusseldorf at Boryspil International Airport on October 14 when he was arrested under a red notice issued by Interpol at the Azerbaijani government’s request. It accused him of “crossing a border illegally” and “fraud.”

Following his arrest, a Kyiv court ordered him held for 18 days pending examination of his appeal.

A Kyiv court on October 27 ordered the journalist’s release on bail but ruled that Huseynli should remain in Ukraine for two months while the Prosecutor-General’s Office investigated Azerbaijan’s extradition request, according to reports.

Ukrainian courts have twice extended the investigation term; the new deadline is March 20, 2018, according to the journalist.

“If I am killed or kidnapped or extradited to Azerbaijan in the near future, all responsibility lies with the Ukrainian authorities. What awaits me in Azerbaijan is a long prison term or death,” Huseynli wrote on his Facebook page on March 13.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Azerbaijani, Exiled, reporter

Armenian reporter wounded in Azerbaijani fire

May 11, 2017 By administrator

An Armenian TV cameraman was wounded in Azerbaijan’s shelling of Nagorno Karabakh positions on Wednesday, May 10, at around 6:00 pm.

According to Shant TV, their crew and the car they were travelling in fell under the Azeri fire as the rival employed large-caliber rifles.

The cameraman underwent surgery overnight, his condition is deemed stable.

More than 65 ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were registered on the contact line with Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) on May 10 and the following night, with around 1700 shots fired from various caliber firearms.

Besides, movement of military eqipment by the Azerbaijani side was registered on May 10, involving around 10 tanks which returned to their initial positions later in the day.

Related links:

Գնդակոծության է ենթարկվել «Շանթ»-ի նկարահանող խումբը.A1plus.am

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Armenian, reporter, tv, wounded

CPJ Report: BBC journalist questioned by US border agents, devices searched

February 1, 2017 By administrator

New York, February 1, 2017—Customs and Border Protection officers should respect the rights of journalists to protect confidential information when subjecting international reporters to screening on their arrival to the U.S., the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Ali Hamedani, a reporter for BBC World Service, told CPJ that border agents detained him at Chicago O’Hare airport for over two hours and questioned him when he arrived in the U.S. on January 29 to interview a Persian singer. The journalist, who said he was traveling on a Media I Visa, told CPJ that agents searched his phone and computer and read his Twitter feed.
Hamedani told CPJ that when he traveled to the U.S. on the same visa in November he did not have any issues at the border. The detention of the British-Iranian journalist came two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning entry to the U.S. for 90 days for individuals from seven countries, including Iran.
Continue reading.
Link: https://www.cpj.org/2017/02/bbc-journalist-questioned-by-us-border-agents-devi.php

 

Filed Under: News Tagged With: BBC, border, cpj, questioned, reporter

Turkey Daily Hürriyet reporter arrested over failed coup probe

August 15, 2016 By administrator

Arda akinAn Istanbul court ordered the arrest of daily Hürriyet reporter Arda Akın on Aug. 15 as a part of the nationwide probe following Turkey’s failed military coup attempt of July 15.

Akın had initially been released on probation in the investigation, which witnessed the arrest of 18 journalists.

However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed the release of Akın and a second detention warrant was issued for him.

Akın was then detained on Aug. 15 at a police station and the Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace later ordered his arrest pending trial.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arda Akın, daily Hürriyet, reporter, Turkey

RUDAW reporters were attacked in Ankara Turkish capital

November 16, 2014 By administrator

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A team of Rudaw reporters were attacked in Ankara on Saturday by the supporters of the People’s Democratic Congress (HDK) outside the left-wing organisation’s party congress.

Report79758Image1er Asad Ayidin and technician Farouq Albayraq were injured in the attack and a camera was broken, Rudaw Media Network said in a statement. Other equipment was seized by the attackers.

Rudaw reporter Sawkat Harki asked the attackers to calm down and tried to explain that the team was there at the request of the HDK to cover the congress of the party, which supports Kurdish rights.

The attackers accused Rudaw’s team of collaborating with the Turkish MIT intelligence services. The incident was reported to police and legal action was being pursued, the statement said.
The Rudaw statement strongly condemned the attack and said it regarded the incident as an attack on the free media.

It urged HDK officials to take a stand against the attack.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Ankara, attack, reporter, rudaw

US-Lebanese reporter dies in Turkey, Iranian TV calls accident ‘suspicious’

October 20, 2014 By administrator

n_73214_1Lebanese-American reporter Serena Shim, 30, was married with two children.

A Lebanese-American reporter has been killed in a car crash near Turkey’s border with Syria, in what the state-owned Iranian TV station she worked for described as a “suspicious” accident.

Serena Shim, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen of Lebanese origin, was killed on Oct. 19 while she was returning to her hotel from the scene in the city of Suruç in Turkey’s Şanlıurfa province when the car her team had rented collided with a heavy vehicle.

Shim, who had been covering the battle for Kobane for Press TV in Lebanon, Iraq and Ukraine, was killed, while cameraman Judy Irish was injured in the crash. The driver of the concrete mixer that hit the reporter’s car has been arrested, although his identity has not been released, according to Doğan News Agency. Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu Agency reported that Shim had arrived in Suruç last week.

On Oct. 17, Shim told Press TV that the Turkish intelligence agency had accused her of spying “probably due to some of the stories she had covered about Turkey’s stance on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] militants in Kobane” across the border from Suruç, adding that she feared being arrested. She also claimed that she had received images of militants crossing the Turkish border into Syria in World Food Organization and other NGOs trucks.

İzzettin Küçük, governor of Şanlıurfa, denied Press TV’s claims, describing the allegations as “completely baseless.” After stressing that a detailed explanation about Shim’s death would be made after the investigation is concluded, Küçük said the claims were “attempts to put Turkey in a difficult situation.”

October/20/2014

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: dies, Iran, reporter, suspicious, Turkey

NYT reveals threats against Turkish reporter as pro-gov’t media turn her into target

September 19, 2014 By administrator

ISTANBUL

n_71919_1The New York Times revealed Sept. 19 that its reporter Ceylan Yeğinsu, who wrote a striking story on the recruitment efforts of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) at the heart of the Turkish capital Ankara earlier this week, has been receiving ‘messages that threaten her safety.’

The New York Times revealed Sept. 19 that its reporter Ceylan Yeğinsu, who wrote a striking story on the recruitment efforts of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) at the heart of the Turkish capital Ankara earlier this week, has been receiving “messages that threaten her safety.”

After her report was published, Yeğinsu not only received strong reactions from officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but was also targeted by the pro-government media, with a number of newspapers publishing her picture on their front page in a bid to trigger public outrage.

The executive director of the New York Times, Dean Bacquet, expressed concern about Yeğinsu’s safety, adding that the American broadsheet acknowledged that the picture accompanying the story of Erdoğan with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu during Friday prayers was misleading.

“Despite this published correction, some Turkish authorities and media outlets have mounted a coordinated campaign to intimidate and attack the motives of the reporter who wrote the story. She has been sent thousands of messages that threaten her safety,” Bacquet said in a written statement Sept. 18.

“It is unacceptable for one of our journalists to be targeted in this way. We expect the Turkish authorities to work to ensure the safety of our journalists working legally in the country,” he added.

Bacquet also emphasized that the article did not imply “that President Erdoğan supported ISIL or condoned the recruitment of ISIL fighters in Turkey.”

Yeğinsu herself, a former reporter for the Hürriyet Daily News, responded to criticism of the piece by stressing that she was not responsible for the choice of the picture. Both the New York Times and Yeğinsu have said they stand behind the report.

Pro-government media campaign

Several pro-government outlets and journalists, however, have strongly denounced “bias” in the New York Times report, though none have published reports that could eventually contradict its findings.

One of the most virulent pro-government media outlets, daily Takvim, published Yeğinsu’s picture on its Sept. 18 front page, even printing information about her family. Her picture appeared next to a larger one of President Erdoğan, whose denunciation of the report as “shameless, immoral, treason,” were highlighted using a huge font size.

Another newspaper close to the government, daily Akşam, also published Yeğinsu’s picture on its front page, alongside headline stating, “The perception-shaping operation was homemade,” in reference to the fact that Yeğinsu is a Turkish citizen.

In its Sept. 19 edition, daily Takvim published testimonies from shop owners in the Hacı Bayram neighborhood of Ankara – where the original story was researched – who denied that ISIL recruitment could have happened there. The story was also picked up by daily Sabah, which is owned by the same group.

In addition to all of this, pro-government columnists and commentators added fuel to the fire on social media, with many quoting Turkish officials as saying Turkey would “never allow” such a thing on its own soil.

With the pro-government media becoming increasingly strident in Turkey, the list of journalists who have been personally targeted without their reports being properly debated is growing.

The Turkish government had also reacted strongly to the international media coverage of Gezi protests last year, particularly slamming CNN and BBC for broadcasting the demonstrations live. Since then, Turkish officials have formed a habit of denouncing reports they dislike or disagree with, particularly since criticism in the international press about the restriction of freedoms in Turkey rose, such as when access to Twitter and YouTube was temporarily banned.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: NYT, reporter, threats, Turkey

NY Times urges Turkish authorities to ensure safety of its reporter

September 19, 2014 By administrator

The New York Times responded to attacks on its Turkey reporter after it published a report focusing on the alleged recruitment of Turks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the 192688_newsdetailLevant (ISIL) in an Ankara neighborhood, calling on Turkish authorities to ensure her safety. report TodayZAMAN

Ceylan Yeğinsu came under attack by the pro-government media and on social media platforms after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at a report she wrote for The New York Times that was published on Sept. 15. Erdoğan particularly was angered by the photo that was published along with the story, picturing him and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu leaving a mosque in the same Ankara neighborhood, Hacı Bayram. “This is shameless, ignoble and base,” Erdoğan said in a speech on Wednesday.

Later that same day, The New York Times removed the photo and issued a correction, saying the photo was published in error and clarifying that neither the mosque in the photo nor the president’s visit were related to the recruiting of ISIL fighters described in the article.

The New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said that even though the correction had been issued, the reporter came under an “unacceptable” attack.

“Despite this published correction, some Turkish authorities and media outlets have mounted a coordinated campaign to intimidate and to impugn the motives of the reporter who wrote the story,” Baquet said in the statement released late on Thursday. “She has been sent thousands of messages that threaten her safety. It is unacceptable for one of our journalists to be targeted in this way.”

“We expect the Turkish authorities to work to ensure the safety of our journalists working legally in the country and we would ask these authorities to use well-established procedures for reaching either myself or other top editors of The New York Times should further communication regarding this matter be necessary,” he also said.

Yeğinsu has been targeted in pro-government newspapers and websites, which have published defamatory articles that feature her photo.

“Ceylan wrote that story,” read a front-page story in the Takvim daily on Thursday. Two other pro-government media outlets, Star newspaper and A Haber television, also ran stories on their websites “exposing” The New York Times reporter as a Turk. “A Turk turned out to be behind the New York Times’ perception operation,” read the headline of a story on the website of Star newspaper, again with a photo of Yeğinsu.

Takvim continued to target Yeğinsu on Friday, running another front-page story featuring her photo and titled: “Hear this, Ceylan.” The story offered a compilation of accounts from people it said were residents of Hacı Bayram, criticizing Yeğinsu for her report and dismissing the ISIL recruitment operation described in it.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Erdogan, ISIL, ISIS, islamic state, New York Times, reporter

Kurdish reporter killed in Iraqi Kurdistan

August 11, 2014 By administrator

New York, August 11, 2014–A Kurdish journalist was killed in Makhmur district, south of the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, on Friday when shrapnel from mortar shelling hit deniz.firather in the chest, according to news reports. Deniz Firat, a freelance reporter, was covering clashes between Kurdish forces and insurgents with the Islamic State, an Al-Qaeda splinter group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, the Firat News Agency said.

“As the violence in Iraq increases, all parties involved need to ensure that journalists covering the conflict are treated as civilians and can report safely,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Coordinator.

Firat, who was from the Kurdish city of Van in eastern Turkey, had been embedded with Kurdish forces, according to Rahman Gharib, general coordinator for the local press freedom group Metro Center to Defend Journalists, and news reports. She was reporting for the Firat agency, an outlet based outside Turkey that offers a pro-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) viewpoint. She also reported for several pro-Kurdish TV stations, including Sterk TV, Med NUÇE, and Ronahi TV.

Kurdish forces regained control over Makhmur district after U.S. air strikes in the region on Friday, according to reports. The strikes aimed to stop the Islamic State offensive in northern Iraq, reports said.

The escalation of violence and the instability in Iraq have led to a substantial increase in the risks that journalists face in the region. More than a dozen journalists have been killed in the past year in Iraq, according to CPJ research.

Firat’s body was sent back to Turkey after her funeral, according to news reports. The Metro Center organized a candlelight vigil in Sulaymaniyah for the journalist.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: dead, Kurdish, reporter

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