On 13 February 2025, Turan closed its offices. It was the first independent media outlet to emerge in Azerbaijan, working consistently for 35 years.
‘Founded in 1990, in the final days of the Soviet Union, we have endured the challenges of transition, war, and reform while remaining committed to journalism that serves the public interest’, Turan’s director Mehman Aliyev wrote in a statement addressing the outlet’s closing.
In his letter to the readers, Aliyev explained the reason Turan was closing its offices was due to an issue of finances.
‘Today we must face an unavoidable reality […] Despite tireless efforts to secure the necessary resources to continue, the financial difficulties that have plagued us for years have finally forced us to make the difficult decision to suspend the agency's activities in its present format’, he wrote.
Aliyev’s statement did not mention that other comments on social media criticised him for not mentioning the government’s pressure on independent media, which has continued ever more harshly since 2023.
Another Turan employee who shared his thoughts on social media was Tapdiq Farhadoghlu, who also works as a reporter for Voice of America. In response to his post, Rovshan Hajibayli, a former editor for the since closed media outlet Azadliq, likewise questioned why Farhadoghlu didn’t ‘write that this government is an enemy of independent press and freedom of speech, and is the main reason why Turan is experiencing financial difficulties?’, noting that the reason for the outlet’s closing was ‘the logical result of the policy of suppressing the media and independent press. A policy that began at the end of the last century and continues to this day’.
At every step of the narrowing circle of freedom, the government changed legislation, added new prohibitions, established new pro-government media organisations, built flats for pro-government and state media journalists, and awarded the same journalists many monetary prizes.
When Aliyev spoke to me earlier this week about Turan’s closing, he admitted that the media outlet has been pressured numerous times, specifically in terms of finances.
‘Why has independent media disappeared in Azerbaijan? Not because someone was killed or was beaten, but because, financially, they couldn’t cover expenses,’ Aliyev said.
‘We have two paths forward: to shut down or to be sold to the government. That is why independent media was destroyed in Azerbaijan. If we, the media, have no financial freedom, this media cannot exist.’
It is somehow symbolic that the history of independent media in Azerbaijan begins with Turan and, it seems, will end with Turan. Unfortunately, I was not surprised to hear that Turan was closing; it was only a matter of time after all.
Even as I wrote this newsletter, the news of further media crackdowns continued. Social media blogger and journalist Nurlan Gahramanli was arrested and BBC Azerbaijan’s service closed. As independent media and journalists in prison await the end, the government pressure is ongoing, in this hopeless situation only Turan’s last words sound like a miracle — ‘The story of Turan [independent media] is far from over. Stay with us’.
