Azerbaijan accuses Western media of coordinated disinformation campaign

Azerbaijan’s Media Development Agency (MEDİA) has accused a number of Western media outlets of conducting what it described as a coordinated disinformation campaign targeting the country.

According to MEDİA, the Poland-based Nexta channel on September 2 disseminated information based on subjective judgments concerning a fire that occurred near the village of Nizami in Azerbaijan’s Goranboy district, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

The agency said the reports were aimed at politicizing the incident and misleading public opinion.

MEDİA said its analysis indicated that the developments were part of a hybrid information campaign allegedly managed from a single centre. It further accused Western media outlets, which it said routinely criticize external actors for waging hybrid warfare against their information spaces, of conducting an organized disinformation campaign against Azerbaijan.

The agency noted the situation demonstrated that efforts to normalize relations between neighboring states in the region and strengthen stability and prosperity were contrary to the interests of certain circles. As a result, it said, “classic cases of disinformation” intended to undermine Azerbaijan’s information space and create artificial panic among the public had intensified.

"Monitoring and analysis of the overall information environment show that, in recent times, a campaign to disseminate inaccurate information about Azerbaijan has been observed across a number of Western media outlets. In particular, the overtly one-sided approach and unfounded assertions in materials published by the UK's The Independent and The Guardian, the BBC, the US-based CNN, France's Le Monde, Poland's TVP and other outlets constitute part of an information attack targeting Azerbaijan's international image," MEDIA said.

“The dissemination of such assumptions and claims should be regarded as an explicit manifestation of information manipulation,” the agency added.

"The Media Development Agency will continue to take necessary measures to investigate such cases aimed at undermining the country's sovereignty, domestic and foreign policy, as well as its international reputation, and to prevent attempts at disinformation," the statement emphasized.

By Vafa Guliyeva