Paul Barry, host of ABC, mocked an article of “The West Australian” newspaper entitled “Baku to the future”, where Azerbaijan is presented as a democratic country and is compared to Perth, the capital of Western Australia.
“Haven’t heard of the affair between WA [Western Australia] and Azerbaijan?”, asks the host adding, “Nor had we until the West devoted three-page spread to the exciting news, telling us: “there are some striking similarities between Perth and Baku. Both are secular, well-educated societies with a love for good food and wine and a quirky appreciation of Eurovision”.
“And of course, they’re both freedom loving democracies”, mocks the host, “Although, bizarrely, in 2013 Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev was so popular that he was voted in for a third term before the polls are even opened. And so popular that two years later, the major opposition parties didn’t even bother showing up.”
Paul Berry reminds BBC’s article about Azerbaijan, that in the past two years Azeri authorities have jailed almost all critical voices, among them journalists, civil society activists, and human right lawyers. “None of that made it into West’s three-page feature, and nor did we learn that the country ranks 162 out 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, behind Iraq and Egypt,” notes the host.
Barry noted that the author did not even notice the high level of corruption in Azerbaijan. Instead, he reminds the “Azerbaijani Laundromat” – complex money-laundering operation, in which $2.9 billion was laundered out of the century into offshore bank accounts of Azerbaijani leaders or to pay off friendly European politicians and sympathetic journalists.
At the end, the host recalls with irony that the reporter’s trip was paid for by the Azerbaijani Consulate.
“We’re not suggesting to West Australian has had millions of dollars pumped through its bank accounts, but accepting free flights and hotels from a corrupt country that locks up journalists, and then ignoring or downplaying the country’s problems, is not a good look,” concludes Paul Berry.
