Representatives of Azerbaijan news agency at internet freedom roundtable. Photo: TURAN Information Agency

'There are two major problems with the internet in Azerbaijan: wide-spread corruption and lack of political will,' said one participant at a roundtable on net freedom held in Baku that spurred debate and agitated government officials

By Gulnara Akhundova, AMC

For the first time, Azerbaijan government officials have joined civil society campaigners and regional media representatives in open discussions about the state of Internet freedom in the country.

The event was organised by the IMS-supported Azerbaijan Media Center (AMC) and IREX, which works to strengthen independent media and civil society development.  

The event was prompted by the recent release of the  Freedom on the Net report by Freedom House (FH) in which the organisation claimed that Azerbaijan was 'partly free' in terms of internet usage.

Azerbaijan government rejects internet freedom criticism

Prior to the event, Mushvig Amirov, the Azerbaijan Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies spokesman denied there was any centralized control over the internet and threw down a challenge to FH to visit Azerbaijan and study the state of internet freedom first hand.

-The human rights activists must provide objective data, but here we see outright misinformation. If the representatives of Freedom House are so impartial, let them visit Azerbaijan and see everything themselves, he said.

In response, FH provided the AMC with background information regarding the methodology used in its assessment, along with the findings that had influenced its conclusion that Azerbaijan's internet is 'partly free.'

FH said it recognized that internet usage has exploded in recent years and the internet remains much less restricted than print and broadcast media, but the organisation claimed there was still evidence suggesting that the authorities have attempted to exercise greater control over the medium.

Internet issues due to "corruption and lack of political will"

During the roundtable, which took place on April 27, 2011, Zakir Gasimov from the Azerbaijan Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies said the information contained in the FH report was no longer relevant.

"The statistical information for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia in this report is outdated. In Azerbaijan, providers are free, and prices are set by the market competition," he said.  

According to Mehman Aliyev, Director of Turan, Azerbaijan's independent news agency, there are two major problems with the internet in Azerbaijan: wide-spread corruption and lack of political will.

-The Government is not interested in the development of the internet in Azerbaijan. In Azerbaijan, the only priority is oil, he told the round table meeting.

The meeting was told that the criminal case, raised by the Azerbaijani government against Strasbourg-based Azerbaijani blogger, Elnur Majidli, hack attacks on critical websites and other developments strengthened the credibility of FH assessment.

Council of Europe is concerned about internet freedom

The prominent Azerbaijani blogger, Ai Novruzov, presented the results from the Council of Europe conference: Internet Freedom- from Principles to Global Treaty Law, which he had attended as an AMC sponsored participant.   The Council of Europe conference, which was held on April 18-19 in Strasbourg , provided a comprehensive insight into Internet freedom and the frameworks that are needed to support it internationally.

-It is very important to note that the Council of Europe is concerned over the state of internet freedom, he said.

He told the group that the integrity of the infrastructure is critical for the free flow of the internet, "along with repressions of freedom of expression over the internet", which, he said, was a prime focus of the international community."

The AMC and IREX hopes the round table discussion is just the first of many between the Azerbaijan government, the media and civil society campaigners as Azerbaijan prepares for the global influx of visitors with the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 - along with the associated attention the country will have via the internet.

According to Seymur Kazimov of the AMC the fact that the round table discussions took place is a good sign.

-It's important we are seen to be discussing these issues as Europe and the world's attention turns to Azerbaijan.

We hope that by continued constructive dialogue all sides can work together to ensure that the internet becomes a tool for good in Azerbaijan, both in terms of sharing information and also in terms of helping the global community develop a better understanding of the country, its strengths and its needs, he said.