The openDemocracy.net website published a critical article about BBC\u2019s airing of a two-part propaganda film funded by the UK oil and gas giant British Petroleum (BP) about Azerbaijan. Written by James Dowsett, the article was titled, \u201cBBC accused of \u2018whitewashing\u2019 autocratic Azerbaijan in BP-sponsored film.\u201d BP has invested $84 billion in Azerbaijan since 1995 and is the largest foreign corporate investor in Azerbaijan\u2019s oil operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film was titled; \u2018Wonders of Azerbaijan,\u2019 leaving no doubt about its propagandistic purpose. It was produced with the backing of the ruling Aliyev family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. BBC is wrong to promote such a kleptocracy. BP \u201chas long faced criticism from human rights and climate activists for its ties to the ruling Aliyev regime, which has been accused of \u2018electoral fraud,\u2019 the silencing of dissenting voices and benefiting disproportionately from Azerbaijan\u2019s oil and gas wealth,\u201d openDemocracy reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBP spent $300,000 on the film, which was made by the UK production company SandStone Global with support from a foundation and a media center run by members of Azerbaijan\u2019s ruling Aliyev family. Broadcaster and historian Bettany Hughes, who co-founded SandStone, presented the film,\u201d openDemocracy wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEmin Huseynov, an Azerbaijani journalist who fled political persecution in Azerbaijan in 2015, accused the BBC of \u2018whitewashing a dictatorship\u2019 over the film,\u201d wrote openDemocracy. Huseynov said BBC was giving \u201cthe floor to one of the bloodiest and most corrupt regimes in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before its airing in August, BBC promoted the film by promising the viewers that they would discover \u201chow Azerbaijan\u2019s oil wealth enabled the capital Baku to flourish\u201d and \u201cgain the reputation of being the \u2018Paris of the East.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the film, Bettany Hughes travelled to Azeri-occupied Shushi, but did not say a single word about the city\u2019s Armenian heritage. \u201cThe film also implicitly promoted Azerbaijan\u2019s claims to Shusha [Shushi],\u201d openDemocracy wrote. Azerbaijan has allocated millions of dollars to turn Shushi into its \u2018cultural capital.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A BBC spokesman tried to justify its objectionable transaction by telling openDemocracy that the revenue from airing the Azeri propaganda film \u201callows us to invest in the BBC\u2019s world-class journalism, which provides independent and impartial news across all topics.\u201d BBC\u2019s ridiculous excuse is akin to a prostitute claiming that she donates to the church the money she makes from prostitution!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To generate additional income, BBC ran during the airing of the film travel ads paid by Azerbaijan\u2019s official tourist board. The \u201cBaku Media Center provided logistics support to SandStone, while the Heydar Aliyev Foundation helped the UK company secure filming permits and access to unique heritage sites,\u201d a SandStone representative told openDemocracy. The Baku Media Center is run by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev\u2019s youngest daughter, Arzu Aliyeva. The Center works closely with the family-run Heydar Aliyev Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BP admitted that the propaganda film was its \u201ccontribution to Azerbaijan\u2019s global promotion\u201d in partnership with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The Foundation is chaired by Ilham Aliyev\u2019s wife Mehriban Aliyeva, who is also the country\u2019s vice president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OpenDemocracy reported that \u201cthe Heydar Aliyev Foundation is tasked with promoting Azerbaijan\u2019s image abroad, including by advancing the government position over Nagorno-Karabakh. But government critics say this work extends to diverting attention from the regime\u2019s relentless crackdown on dissent and its systemic corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arzu Geybullayeva, an Azerbaijani journalist living in exile, told openDemocracy: \u201cThe [Heydar Aliyev] Foundation was set up by the ruling family to whitewash Azerbaijan\u2019s image. It can by no means be described as independent of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Heydar Aliyev Foundation is leading restoration works in Shusha [Shushi]. Some of these works [are] featured in the BBC program,\u201d reported openDemocracy. Meanwhile, BP is planning a solar power plant in the city of Jabrayil, which Azerbaijan occupied in the 2020 war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BP\u2019s regional president Gary Jones \u201ctook to the stage at the Baku premiere of the film in late September to praise the \u2018unwavering support of the [Azerbaijani] government\u2019 for his company and its co-venturers\u2019 operations in the country. Jones also spoke of the \u2018joint effort\u2019 that went into creating the documentary. He thanked the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for its support and paid personal homage to the president\u2019s daughter, Arzu Aliyeva, and to the Baku Media Center she heads, \u2018for their outstanding technical support\u2019 on the production,\u201d openDemocracy wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, \u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time BP has collaborated with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, or that the Foundation has cropped up on the BBC. Last year, BBC StoryWorks\u2026 ran a separate tourism-focused campaign for Azerbaijan to mark the 30th anniversary of the country\u2019s independence from the Soviet Union. The campaign included a paid-for advertorial that invited readers to \u2018discover more\u2019 about Azerbaijan by following a link to an external website run by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The \u2018Azerbaijan\u2019 portal claims (among other things) that Azerbaijan\u2019s current president Ilham Aliyev \u2018has always focused on ensuring a fuller provision of human rights and freedoms in the country.\u2019 It also contains information about the so-called \u2018Armenian problem.\u2019\u201d However, the weblink was deleted after openDemocracy contacted BBC. The link had included scenes from a \u2018war park\u2019 in Baku where figures of Armenian soldiers with distorted faces were featured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BP has signed a cooperation agreement with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to jointly implement some of its social investment projects. \u201cPrevious joint projects have included sponsored films, such as \u2018The Last Session\u2019, a 2018 documentary commemorating the birth of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic — the short-lived independent state that was ended by Soviet invasion in 1920. BP spent $320,000 on the project, which was organized by the Baku Media Center. Arzu Aliyeva was credited as the film\u2019s executive producer,\u201d openDemocracy reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The openDemocracy.net website published a critical article about BBC\u2019s airing of a two-part propaganda film funded by the UK oil and gas giant British Petroleum (BP) about Azerbaijan. Written by James Dowsett, the article was titled, \u201cBBC accused of \u2018whitewashing\u2019 autocratic Azerbaijan in BP-sponsored film.\u201d BP has invested $84 billion in Azerbaijan since 1995 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4101,"featured_media":774194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3488],"tags":[1345,788],"class_list":["post-774193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-harut-sassounian","tag-aliyev","tag-bbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}