The media organization made the “forced decision” to close its office in the country after receiving a verbal notice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
BBC Azerbaijani have made a statement regarding the issue.
The statement says that “BBC News” made the “forced decision” to close its office in the country after receiving a verbal notice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We deeply regret this restrictive move against press freedom, which will hinder our ability to report to and from Azerbaijan for our audiences inside and outside the country. The BBC was only verbally informed of this demand and has not received any written communication from the Azerbaijani government, and has been trying to clarify the matter through various channels. The journalistic team in Baku has ceased its work, and the company is seeking clarification on this directive. We will continue to provide news in Azerbaijani,” the statement says.
On February 13, 2025, government-affiliated media outlets in Azerbaijan reported that the editorial offices of “Sputnik-Azerbaijan” and “BBC News Azerbaijani” would be closed. It was stated that regulations would be applied by Azerbaijan to the operations of both editorial offices.
“Sputnik-Azerbaijan” operates as a branch of Russia’s “Rossiya Segodnya” International Information Agency. It was reported that while “AZERTAC” has only one correspondent in Russia, “Sputnik Azerbaijan” has a full editorial team of 40 people in Baku. “Currently, this parity is severely disrupted. The same approach will be applied to ‘BBC Azerbaijani’,” the report said.
The BBC has been operating in Azerbaijan since 1994. After the Azerbaijani government’s decision to stop the broadcast of foreign radio stations on FM frequencies, “BBC Azerbaijani” ceased its radio broadcasts in 2011. After that, “BBC Azerbaijani” expanded its online presence. So far, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not released any statement on the issue.
