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  • BAKU: Aksam Correspondent Finds Herself In A Ticklish Situation

    TOPICAL: AKSAM CORRESPONDENT FINDS HERSELF IN A TICKLISH SITUATION

    Yeni Musavat
    18 Nov 2009
    Azerbaijan

    Nagehan Alci: `Hundreds of e-mails full of hatred began to flow into
    my mail box from Azerbaijanis'

    A scandal, caused by correspondent Nagehan Alci of Turkey's Aksam
    newspaper following her visit to [Azerbaijani breakaway] Nagornyy
    Karabakh via Armenia, is being solved now. Armenian media outlets
    reported that in an interview with Armenian TV correspondents, she
    said: "We made a mistake in Turkey. Karabakh is 100 per cent Armenian
    land and we realized you are fully determined against compromises on
    this land."

    In his turn, the editor-in-chief of Aksam newspaper, Ismayil Kucukkaya,
    expressed his confidence that Armenian media outlets distorted Alci's
    words: "Indeed, if she said so, then she took a very wrong step."

    In yesterday issue of the newspaper, N. Alci published an article to
    shed light on the issue in question. The article, also republished
    by vesti.az website, said: "Actually, my article should have started
    with the following sentence: "For four days here, I am in a place
    where cellular telephones do not work, a daily access to the internet
    is only for 30 minutes. Isolated from the rest of the world, I am
    listening to intriguing stories. I shall soon share my impressions
    with you. But...I'd better begin from scratch. Last Friday I was in
    Stepanakert. This is the capital of Nagornyy Karabakh occupied by
    Armenians. The Azerbaijanis call it Xankandi. The city is not that
    big. Here we are staying in one of the two hotels. On the second day
    of our stay here we were called by a representative of the local TV
    channel: "We are greeting you from Artsakh TV. You are welcome to
    our city. We'd like to interview you."

    I agreed to this proposal after pondering that refusal from the
    interview would be misinterpreted in this small and sensitive
    province. They asked what I was thinking about their region. I replied
    this way: "I see only Armenians live here and it is governed by them."

    I did not say anything else and did not make any comments on belonging
    of Karabakh and its history. And why should I? I was there only to
    see everything with my own eyes. The clip where I was featured was
    shown on the [local] TV channel. It turned out that everyone watches
    a single TV channel here and I was very popular in the city. I was
    recognized on the street. Even in mountainous villages wherever we
    went, people immediately began to speak amongst themselves. I only
    understood a word of `television'".

    Up to this moment, everything was normal, this even entertained me
    to a certain extent. Nevertheless, on the second day, things took a
    turn for the worse. In the twinkling of an eye, hundreds of e-mails
    full of hatred began to flow into my mail box from Azerbaijan. All
    of them were from my Azerbaijani friends. At the outset, I did not
    understand what was going on. It turned out that Armenian websites
    carried materials on the report where my words were distorted,
    alleging that I said Karabakh was 100 per cent Armenian land. Of
    course, my words were sold like hot cakes by Russian and Azerbaijani
    news portals. As a result, as an ordinary journalist, I became guilty
    for an international crisis. What can I say, dear readers. Those who
    are familiar with my pen know well that my aim was only to write what
    I saw there. I was not about to come up with any explanations and
    have not done so. I hope soon I shall as an author of interesting
    reports but not as a "hero of an international crisis".
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