Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry summons US, German chargés d'affaires, French ambassador Over illegal financing of media

On November 28, the chargé d'affaires of the United States of America and Germany, as well as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of France, were separately summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

It was brought to the attention that "AbzasMedia" news portal carried out illegal financial operations with the participation of organizations registered in these countries, as well as that the embassies of the mentioned countries were also involved in this activity, and a serious objection was expressed in this regard, Caliber.Az reports, citing the ministry.

It was noted that the International Development Agency of the USA, FreedomNow, New Democracy Fund and other organizations illegally transferred financial resources to Azerbaijan, violating the rules of granting grants, and made illegal contributions to the activities of "AbzasMedia".

According to the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan on grant activities and grant agreements, grant contracts are required to be state-registered in line with the relevant procedure, and the allocation of funds to unregistered projects is a serious violation of the country's legislation.

At the same time, according to international practice, it was mentioned that under the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Media, the financing of the local media subject by individuals or legal entities of foreign countries, as well as by state institutions of foreign countries, is not allowed.

It was noted that the illegal actions of the embassies of the mentioned countries and their organizations in the territory of Azerbaijan are a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The Azerbaijani side strongly condemned this activity, which is against the national legislation and aims to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, and it was brought to the attention that Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate measures in accordance with the national legislation regarding the mentioned facts.