Azerbaijani news agency slams raid on Anadolu Agency

By Ruslan Rehimov

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AA) - Azerbaijan’s state news agency AzerTac Thursday condemned a police raid on Anadolu Agency’s Cairo office and detention of staff members.

In a statement, the AzerTac expressed solidarity with the “friendly and brotherly country of Turkey’s news agency".

“We consider actions against Anadolu Agency employees unacceptable and demand the immediate release of the detainees,” the statement added.

Describing Egyptian police’s detention of Anadolu staff as a violation of human rights as well as press freedom, the statement said: “We strongly condemn the raid and detention of the Anadolu Agency’s Cairo office.”

“We announce that we are always with our Turkish colleagues,” the statement read.

Egyptian police raided the Cairo office of Anadolu Agency late Tuesday and detained four employees.

The staff members, including one Turkish citizen, were taken to an unknown location.

No reason was given for the raid.

Turkey strongly condemned the move and called for the immediate release of Anadolu Agency staff members.

In a separate message to Anadolu Agency Director General Senol Kazanci, head of the AzerTac Aslan Aslanov expressed his "sorrow and anger" over the detentions.

Aslanov, who is also vice president of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies, strongly condemned the violence against the journalists.

"We believe that the Egyptian police violated human rights, freedom of expression and press with this act, which is against democratic values," he stressed.

"My dear brother, we consider this action against you our own pain," he said, adding: "You can be sure we are always in solidarity with you."

Aslanov also called for the immediate release of the detained Anadolu Agency staff.