November 9, 2020 - 14:42 AMT
AFP refuses to publish interview with Azeri ambassador in France

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has refused to publish an interview with the Azerbaijani ambassador in France, Rahman Mustafayev, according to a tweet the envoy posted on Monday, November 9 night.

An email screenshot the ambassador published reveals that the news agency has explained their decision by the fact that "the accusation he mentioned cannot be verified."

Mustafayev wrote that Le Figaro and other media outlets "systematically refuse" to publish Azerbaijani stories.

Since the beginning of the war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Azerbaijan has embarked on a campaign to shift the blame for the ongoing hostilities. Their president Ilham Aliyev went as far as to accuse the BBC of disseminating what he described fake news about Azerbaijan's war crimes, which have been verified by international and local news outlets and major human rights organizations.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey and terrorist mercenaries deployed by Ankara, started a war against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. Foreign and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages.