The “Hesabat” program of ANS TV, widely discussed last week went on air last night. The program was hosted by its permanent author Mirshahin Aghayev who was hospitalized on Saturday.
Mirshahin Aghayev, who started to the program with the sentence “I’m on duty” used tough words about the National Television and Radio Council (NTRC), which made a decision to stop the program for the period of one month, and later canceled its execution.
He stated that NTRC claims immunity and it is biased towards ANS.
Mirshahin Aghayev then thanked president Ilham Aliyev for restoration of the program.
He once again underlined that the reason of the debate between NTRC and ANS is the latter’s demand of reports on where the funds allocated for improvement of TV channels are being spent.
He called NTRC a “sick force” as opposed to ANS and its supporters, which he believes are the “sane force”.
“Hesabat” host claimed that someone did not like ANS’s attempts to cover mass resentment and calm down the protests, and it is them who closed the program. He accused some officials in “moral GKChP-ing”.1
Mirshahin Aghayev addressed Nushiravan Maharramli, the chair of NTRC, personally: “No single international media entity published even a tiny news about “Hesabat” being shut down. Thos who damage Azerbaijan’s image in the entire world, who want to bring shame to Azerbaijan with their Soviet [mindset] did not achieve their dreams. No one should forget that this state belongs to all of us. You don’t need to disgrace Azerbaijan in the whole world, Nushiravan Maharramli, you don’t need to do that,” he said.
The National Television and Radio Council had made a decision on stopping broadcasting of “Hesabat” program aired on ANS television channel and hosted by Mirshahin Aghayev for the period of one month on January 22.
NTRC declaired that the decision was canceled at a press conference yesterday.
Mirshahin Aghayev’s “Hesabat” program has been one of the few programs on economic issues on Azeri television for many years.
1 The State Committee on the State of Emergency (Russian: Государственный комитет по чрезвычайному положению, ГКЧП, Gosudarstvennyi Komitet po Chrezvechainomu Polozheniyu, GKChP) was a group of eight high-level officials within the Soviet government, the Communist Party, and the KGB, who attempted a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev on 19 August 1991. The coup ultimately failed, with the provisional government collapsing by 22 August 1991 and several of the conspirators being prosecuted by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (definition taken from wikipedia).
