Decision adopted to halt functioning of foreign radio stations on national FM frequencies in Azerbaijan - UPDATED

The decision of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting was voiced by its chairman Nushirevan Meherremli.

"We have decided not to prolong licenses for broadcasting of BBC, Voice of America and Liberty/Azadlyg on the national frequencies of Azerbaijan from January 1 of 2009.

The decision has nothing to do with the politics. We strive to bring the practice in conformity to the law. We have started this process long before. By some unknown reasons when we stopped transmission of Russian and Turkish TV channels, no one spoke of the political substantiation of the issue.

We recommend to the radio stations to appeal to the due structures for transmission by cable connection", said Meherremli.

"The decision also refers to Europa Plus radio station. We have given a chance to them to bring their activity in compliance with Azerbaijani radio stations within two years.

Yet, in fact they function as a foreign radio and transmit in a foreign language most of the time. In this connection we will appeal to the court to annul license of this radio station", announced chairman of the National Council.

/Day.Az/