Azerbaijan revokes accreditation of Bloomberg

Yesterday, the pro-government media outlet Report reported that Bloomberg’s accreditation in Azerbaijan had been cancelled, citing an anonymous source in the government.

Bloomberg is the fourth media outlet that has seen its accreditation for correspondents working in Azerbaijan to be cancelled, following Voice of America, BBC Azerbaijan, and Sputnik. The latter two also had their offices shut down.

The rapid increase of pressure on international media outlets follows Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s interview with RT on 18 December 2024, during which he announced that ‘Azerbaijani media cannot be financed by a foreign source, even by 1%’.

‘We do not finance US media, right? Then why should they finance ours? Through their obedient resources, like Voice of America and Radio Liberty, they throw dirt at our people and our country day and night anyway. They cast a shadow on our victory over Armenia’, Aliyev said.

Two months after this speech, BBC Azerbaijan became the first foreign media outlet to announce they were closing, noting that ‘we deeply regret this restrictive move against press freedom.’

The closure of multiple media outlets in February has continued a trend of repression in Azerbaijan that began in November 2023 with a raid on independent news outlet Abzas Media.

Since then, around 30 journalists have been arrested on smuggling charges.

As media crackdown continues, BBC News Azerbaijan closes its office

Yesterday, BBC News Azerbaijan said it had shuttered its offices after the government forced it to close.

OC MediaAytan Farhadova