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Turkey
"Azerbaijan is attacking civilians," reads a news sticker on TRT TV on November 6, 2010. Photo: screenshot
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish state-owned TRT TV has fired an editor for broadcasting a news ticker saying Azerbaijan was targeting civilians in its current conflict with Armenia.
A news ticker claimed Azerbaijan was attacking civilians in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in live coverage aired on Friday morning – contradicting the reporter’s claim of Armenia attacking civilians, said Ibrahim Eren, TRT’s chairman and director general.
“We are definitely aware of the gravity of this incident and we are addressing it to the end. The contract of the personnel has been terminated,” he added, saying an investigation has been launched with government authorities.
As a state-owned institution, TRT is “open to criticism” but it is inaccurate to say that it coverage is against the “struggle of the friendly and brotherly country of Azerbaijan,” Eren said.
Turkey has openly expressed support for Azerbaijan, currently fighting Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an ethnically Armenian-majority province that declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1991.
In addition to military and political support, Ankara has also reportedly sent Syrian fighters to Nagorno-Karabakh to fight alongside the Azerbaijan army. The conflict has so far led to the deaths of some 120 civilians and at least 1,200 soldiers.
Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, defended TRT - calling the incident a “minor technical error.”
TRT “is doing a fabulous job to bring realities of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan to key targeted audiences,” he said in a tweet.
“Minor technical errors make Armenian propaganda so 'happy'” he added.
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