Statement of the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan

On August 01, 2022 in the program "AZTV News", which was broadcast on nationwide terrestrial television channel "AZTV" from 20.00, story that Baku and generally Azerbaijan are one of the most popular tourist destinations in recent years was aired and a number of foreigners who visited our country as tourists were interviewed. While the report was on the air, the subtitle "qonaqlı-qaralı Bakı" was used.           

Some online media resources and social network pages are attempting to interpret this as racial discrimination by sharing a "screenshot" taken during an interview with a foreign tourist, despite the fact that this subtitle was on the air throughout the report.           

The Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan states that there is no hint of discrimination in the content of the report and the mentioned subtitle. The second part of well-known expression "qonaqlı-qaralı", is commonly used in our rich native language, in no way means color, and the demonstration of this subtitle on the air throughout the report in no way implies not only propaganda, but also demonstration of any racial, ethnic, religious or other discrimination. It should be noted that in the etymological dictionary of the Azerbaijani language, the second part of words like "mal-qara", "qonaq-qara" means plural, so "qonaq-qara" means "guests".           

Taking all this into account, we call on the editorial offices of online media, as well as users of social networks, to be more responsible when publishing such news, statuses or opinions and not to try to mislead the public.