21:06     06 April 2021    

Baku Tribune interview with Timur Huseynov, editor-in-chief of Armenia.Az information portal.

Baku Tribune interview with Timur Huseynov, editor-in-chief of Armenia.Az information portal. - How did the Second Karabakh War influence the formation of the rhetoric of the Armenian society towards Azerbaijan? Have anti-Azerbaijani sentiments weakened, or, on the contrary, is the theme of Armenian revanchism dominating? - I want to note right away that it is necessary to clearly separate the rhetoric of the Armenian society and the rhetoric of the Armenian media and the popular Armenian telegrams of the channels. This rhetoric is diametrically opposite. While some media and telegram channels are actively promoting the ideas of revanchism, a large part of the Armenian society comes out from a more loyal position. And this is despite the fact that the Armenian media are actively imposing an agenda of revanchist sentiments. Tracking the Armenian telegram channels, one can make the erroneous conclusion that the entire Armenian society demands revenge. However, in reality, this is not the case. Most of the Armenian society understands that there can be no question of any revenge. The forces are too unequal. Yes, and speaking quite frankly, Armenian fathers and mothers do not want to send their children to Karabakh for certain death. The second Karabakh war clearly showed that many Armenians did not want to fight for territories that do not really belong to them. I assure you, for example, the father of a simple Samvel does not want his son to die on lands that do not belong to the Armenians. Therefore, summing up the answer to your question, I can safely draw 2 conclusions. Yes, the Armenian media, in view of certain political goals, are promoting the ideas of revanchism. But this in no way finds a response among the broad masses of the population of Armenia. - How do you assess the results of the information war conducted by our media in the fight against Armenian propaganda? - It can be unequivocally stated that during the Second Karabakh War, the fight against the enemy's information propaganda was carried out at the highest level. This struggle was actively waged by both state structures and the media of Azerbaijan. It is worth noting dozens of interviews with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, which he gave over 44 days of the victorious war. The president's clear and understandable answers have played a huge role in bringing the truth about the Karabakh conflict to the world community, which is now a thing of the past. Also, a huge role in the information war was played by our media, which successfully conveyed the truth to the world community in Russian, English, French, Armenian, Arabic, German, Persian and other languages. There is one huge plus in the information policy of Azerbaijan. We, unlike the Armenian side, are spreading the truth. And this gives us a great advantage. Yes, sometimes it was difficult for us, because the Armenian side resorted to black propaganda. But, I would like to note once again that the mass media of our country have always appealed with specific facts. And the thoughtful reader could determine the truth from the lie. - How now, in your opinion, should Azerbaijan build its information strategy in relation to our aggressive neighbor in the post-war period? - Our country is very consistent in this matter. We have always been loyal to ordinary Armenians. I mean the Armenians living both in Armenia and in Karabakh. It is not for nothing that a website in the Armenian language - Armenia.Az, which I manage, functions in Azerbaijan. We also have the Armenian edition of the CBC channel, as well as a number of other projects that operate in the Armenian language. The purpose of these projects is to bring truthful news of Azerbaijan to the Armenian audience. In other words, Azerbaijan has been showing Armenians for many years that we are ready to speak with ordinary Armenians in their native language. It is not without reason that the leadership of Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the Armenians living in Karabakh are citizens of our country. But along with this, we are also ready to resist the information propaganda of Armenia. Moreover, we are ready to confront in their native language - Armenian. In other words, we are in a peaceful mood, but we are ready to respond very clearly and promptly to any provocation in Armenian. - How does the Armenian society react to the publications of the Armenia.Az website? Are their views and assessments of what is happening in Armenia and Azerbaijan changing? - The reaction is different. But I can safely say that during the Second Karabakh War tens of thousands of Armenians read the news of our website in Armenian. Many Armenians, disappointed and not trusting their media, preferred to read the news of the Azerbaijani media. Reluctantly, many Armenian readers admitted that the Azerbaijani media presented more truthful information about the war than the Armenian ones. The Armenian authorities, seeing this tendency, even resorted to dirty methods during the war. For example, we have been subjected to massive hacker attacks. Considering that our technical department competently reflected all attacks on our website, the Armenian side, which always shouts loudly about democracy and freedom of speech, resorted to even dirtier methods that are fundamentally incompatible with democracy and freedom of speech. Thus, in the last days of the war, the Armenia.Az website, as well as a number of other news portals of Azerbaijan, were blocked for several days throughout Armenia. This is a vivid indicator that we have achieved such an impact on the Armenian audience, which began to worry the Armenian leadership. - What plans and projects does your resource hatch for the near future? - There are actually a lot of plans. But the most important thing is that after the war a different reality has developed, which the Armenian side has to reckon with. Taking this into account, the interest of the Armenian audience to the news of Azerbaijan is growing. We will continue to promptly publish news from Azerbaijan in Armenian. In many of our publications, we noted that it is better to be friends with Azerbaijan, that we are a very peaceful country. In our news, interviews, we will continue to show the Armenians that peace with Azerbaijan is very beneficial for them. Our path is not easy, but it is gratifying that the Armenians themselves are beginning to understand the truth of our words. We will do our best to continue to be the main source of information for Azerbaijan in the Armenian language - both for the Armenians living in Armenia and in the liberated territories. Interview prepared by Togrul Samedov