Polish media landscape: who needs new campaign against Azerbaijan?

Last week, an unpleasant situation arose, triggered by a rather unexpected attack against Azerbaijan on the air of the Polish public broadcaster TVP (TVP World). A segment featuring slander and unacceptable statements directed at our country and its leadership was aired.This situation came as an unpleasant surprise in the context of bilateral relations. Especially against the backdrop of statements made during the June meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Polish Foreign Minister Rados?aw Sikorski. Therefore, Baku did not pretend that they had not heard anything, but summoned the Polish ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and handed over a protest note.

There are no serious problems between Azerbaijan and Poland that could strain the information field so much. Official Warsaw has repeatedly welcomed the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and in this light, the deliberate distortion of the realities of our region in the Polish broadcast could not but raise questions in Baku.

And these questions remain, because the campaign that has been launched continues. The editor of the Polish TVP Europe, Marcin Zaborowski, commenting on what, judging by the footage, appears to be Armenia’s European choice, said that the country, it turns out, was subjected to an “attack” by Azerbaijan in 2020 and 2023. It is quite possible that the TV channel’s editor has no idea about the history of the Karabakh conflict and what has been happening in the South Caucasus over the past six years, and that he is not aware of whose borders Karabakh lies within. Although such a possibility cannot be ruled out, this does not justify provocative interpretations of reality.

We know that Armenia is the least interested in such provocations today. The diaspora and certain political circles in the west and east are interested in them. The latter, oddly enough, have always found common ground in anti?Azerbaijani campaigns, although in other situations they were ready to throw stones at each other.

Observing the unexpected surge in provocations on the Polish airwaves, one cannot help but notice how noteworthy it is that it coincided in time with yet another similar campaign in the Russian media space. It feels as if this series of provocations is being deliberately paid for and promoted by someone. Moreover, a new trend is emerging, with the leadership of Azerbaijan being chosen as the target. Previously, propaganda tried to stay within certain boundaries; now, there are no boundaries left. We are not talking about yellow media. The Polish public broadcaster TVP (Telewizja Polska) does not fall into this category. The English?language news channel TVP World broadcasts across Europe, and the programme that led to the Polish ambassador being summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spread across the European broadcasting network. In other words, unacceptable content concerning Azerbaijan and its leadership spread across Europe. Mr. Zaborowski’s words about Azerbaijan’s “attack” on Armenia are also…

At the same time, at the official level, even if Warsaw harboured sympathies for Armenia, it has always known that Karabakh is an internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan. This is evidenced, for example, by the statement made by the ambassador of this country in Yerevan in November 2023. After supporting the Armenian side following the September events, the Polish diplomat hastened to clarify that when speaking about the territorial integrity of Armenia, he does not mean Karabakh, which has always been considered and is still considered to be Azerbaijani territory.

In this light, it would be very desirable for the editor?in?chief of a Polish TV channel to clarify whom Azerbaijan actually “attacked” in 2020 and 2023. We’re at a loss here, because the hostilities during the Second Karabakh War and the anti?terrorist operation took place exclusively on the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan..

An interesting observation. In the European expert community, including the Polish one, there are sometimes reproaches directed at Baku regarding the fact that it is linking the signing of a peace treaty with Armenia to a number of conditions. In particular, the removal of toxic elements from the Constitution and the renunciation of territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Some people believe that, in the interests of peace, Baku could abandon these demands. They say that every nation has the right to its own history, its own Constitution, its own heroes, and so on. At the same time, Poland itself is demanding that Ukraine abandon the glorification of figures such as Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych; otherwise, its accession to the European Union will be blocked.

Here, it would be worth recalling that at the end of last year, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the death of the bloodthirsty Nzhdeh, an article about this scoundrel was published in the newspaper “Rzeczpospolita” by the former Polish ambassador to Armenia. In the article, the founder of Armenian Nazism, an accomplice of the Nazis, and a participant in the Holocaust was not portrayed in a flattering light, yet the author did his utmost to justify his crimes. For example, when recalling the genocide of Azerbaijanis in Zangezur, he justified it by saying that “at that time, everyone in the Caucasus behaved in a similar way.”

Not everything, Mr. Former Ambassador, not everything. No indigenous people in the Caucasus did what the Armenians did. But that’s not what we’re talking about now. From Poland’s perspective, Bandera is a Nazi criminal. Similarly, from Azerbaijan’s perspective, Garegin Nzhdeh is a bloody murderer. At the same time, Azerbaijani media do not publish any justifying articles about Bandera and the events in Volhynia. A leading Polish newspaper is trying to justify the destruction of 200 Azerbaijani villages in present-day Syunik by saying that "everyone did that back then." And in general, they say, it was after the "Armenian genocide", and the Azerbaijanis, we quote, "are not only Muslims, but also the Turkic people, who themselves are deeply involved in mass killings and are politically an extension of Turkey" (!).

Why the former ambassador to Armenia wrote this article is perhaps not such a big mystery.

To be fair, it must be said that Poland is actively fighting neo?Nazism. Unlike some other EU countries, neo?Nazi groups there are not allowed to operate freely. And in this light, Warsaw’s position regarding the glorification of certain historical figures is quite understandable.

Characteristically, Azerbaijan does not interfere in anyone’s priorities if they do not affect its own interests, and in its assessments it tries to align itself with the official positions of the states. Because that is the right approach. Unfortunately, it does not see the same attitude towards itself. Hence the “attack” on Armenia, hence the other distortions and manipulations.

It’s no great secret where the roots of yet another campaign against Baku, launched in the Russian information space, lie. It’s quite likely that they also lie at the source of the unexpected “revelations” in the Polish media. In any case, if some Polish diplomats and scholars, out of sympathy or for some other reason, agree that it was the Armenians who brought European culture, wealth, fine clothing, and combat experience to Poland, what other questions could there be? And this is no joke. In the year marking the 650th anniversary of the Armenian community in Poland, a lot was said on this topic. It is not surprising that Hrair Magakyan, a lecturer at the University of Silesia in Katowice, inspired by this, stated that the Armenians were the “colonizers” of Poland.

I’d hate to think that this country is still an Armenian “colony.”