Trend news agency,
15, August 2007

Most journalists of Realnyy Azerbaydzhan and Gundalik Azarbaycan newspapers have applied for asylum in the USA, the Azerbaijani news agency Turan has reported.

Relevant applications were submitted to the US embassy in Azerbaijan on 15 August, Turan quoted a journalist of Gundalik Azarbaycan, Uzeyir Cafarov, as saying.

The newspapers suspended their publication after the staff were evicted from their premises in May 2007.

The US embassy is considering the applications for asylum from the Azerbaijani journalists, Trend news agency quoted embassy spokesman Jonathan Henick as saying on 16 August.

"We need to consult our experts in Washington. We will study whether these individuals are really under pressure and criticism. It is not clear yet when we can answer to these appeals," Henick said.

The chairman of Azerbaijan's Press Council thinks that the journalists should not leave the country.

"Granting asylum to journalists from opposition newspapers may negatively affect the activities of the press which openly criticizes the government, as well as the process of building a civil society in Azerbaijan," Trend quoted Aflatun Amasov as saying. He added that the journalists who applied for asylum are highly qualified and are able to find jobs with other papers.

"Journalists should endure, put up with difficulties and fight. If they leave, we will not be able to build a democratic and free society," Amasov told Trend.