Classic English hit job on reputation Lawson’s misguided smear against Azerbaijan

In a single article, British journalist Dominic Lawson managed to inflict a remarkable blow to the reputation of one of the world’s oldest newspapers. The Times, in circulation since 1785, is now published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Many of Murdoch’s media outlets have been accused of bias and misleading reporting to further his business interests and political alliances. This observation about misleading readers is particularly fitting here. Lawson attempted to lump together unrelated topics: the Baku leg of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, COP29, and... the leaders of the Karabakh junta. Yes, you read that right.

Just imagine—he called those with blood on their hands from both the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples “political prisoners”! These individuals are facing charges of terrorism, financing terrorism, and creating illegal armed groups. This past summer, the investigation into their cases was completed, and the trial is expected to begin soon. And yet, Lawson is trying to persuade The Times readers that these people should be “understood and forgiven.”

I can’t recall a time when the UK “understood and forgave” terrorists, war criminals, or separatists. It’s utterly absurd to try and connect the trial of the former leaders of the Karabakh junta with the Formula 1 Grand Prix or the COP29 conference. Especially considering that the Grand Prix in Baku started when Ruben Vardanyan was still a Russian oligarch of Armenian origin, and the rest of the Karabakh junta sincerely believed that the occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory would last forever.

By the way, Dominic Lawson’s staggering ignorance is further highlighted by his “forgetting” one crucial detail—official Yerevan isn’t pushing for the release of the former Karabakh junta leaders. In fact, Armenia’s National Assembly Speaker, Alen Simonyan, recently stated that this issue isn’t part of the peace negotiations between Baku and Yerevan. So, it seems Lawson is trying to act more Armenian than Armenia’s own government.

Moreover, Lawson conveniently “forgot” to mention that Armenia’s leadership actually supported holding COP29 in Baku. Once again, this makes him look rather absurd. On top of that, he’s outraged that COP29 will be a “Conference of Peace” and seems indignant that leaders from around the world will attend the event.

This Brit’s hysteria was entirely in vain, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres will attend this crucial event, along with presidents and prime ministers from dozens of countries, including the UK.

The author of the article even managed to express outrage over Azerbaijan’s oil and gas production and exports. In this context, it’s worth recalling the statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in July during the Second Global Media Forum in Shusha. The head of state pointed out that Azerbaijan is now being criticized simply for being a country rich in oil and gas.

“At first, we were not prepared for that. We, of course, tried to explain that it is not our fault that we have oil and gas. You should not judge us by that. You should judge us by how we use the revenues, how we diversify our economy, how we tackle unemployment and poverty. All those figures today are at the level of developed countries, maybe sometimes even below. I mean, 5% poverty is something many countries would wish to have, and that's because of a fair distribution of the wealth generated from fossil fuel sales, transparent and absolutely accountable,” stated Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the time.

He also reminded that one of the COP conferences took place in Glasgow, which is in the oil-producing part of the UK, yet no one criticized the UK for having oil and gas. Clearly, Mr. Lawson's piece in The Times was utterly absurd, biased, and lacking in objectivity. These are qualities far removed from genuine journalism, but they seem to fit perfectly with the interests of those willing to pay for a smear campaign against Azerbaijan.