By Paul Vartan Sookiasian
Earlier this week, a CivilNet investigation revealed that the reporting of a recent workshop dedicated to Heydar Aliyev at the University of Utah included fabricated quotes attributed to various academics. The report, by AZERTAC, the Azerbaijani state news outlet, quoted Utah professors expressing serious anti-Armenian rhetoric.
In its public denial of the CivilNet piece, AZERTAC in effect accuses the University of Utah of the fabrications.
On December 19, CivilNet revealed that presentations made by two Utah professors who participated in the workshop were misrepresented in the article as having contained anti-Armenian or pro-Aliyev rhetoric. Professors Marjorie Castle and Steven Lobell both denied having said any of the sentiments attributed to them in the article, or that they even discussed Armenians and Heydar Aliyev at all.
The workshop held late last month was organized by Utah’s Dr. M. Hakan Yavuz, who has made a name for himself as a leading academic in the field of denial of the Armenian Genocide.
CivilNet’s report referred to past incidents wherein AZERTAC has been accused of creating quotes favorable to Azerbaijan and attributing them to journalists and experts, such as the case of David López Frías this past March.
AZERTAC’s response to CivilNet denied that its special correspondent Vugar Seyidov fabricated the quotes attributed to the Utah professors in his article, and as evidence produced an alleged official press release (on University of Utah letterhead), which was the basis of his reporting. In fact, the press release AZERTAC claims it received from the workshop’s organizers is completely identical to Seyidov’s article, suggesting he merely copied and pasted the text he received from the university and placed his name on it as the author.
AZERTAC further attempted to absolve their correspondent from blame by asserting: “it is clear from the press release that the author of the report is Ewa Wasilewska and the editor is M. Yavuz”. This claim was backed up by a screenshot of the Properties section of the press release document, which indicates that the file was created by Dr. Ewa Wasilewska and modified by Dr. Yavuz on November 30, the same date the AZERTAC article was published. Dr. Wasilewska is an Associate Professor (Lecturer) at Utah’s Middle East Center, in which Dr. Yavuz is a full professor. Does this mean it was actually faculty members of the University of Utah who fabricated statements and attributed them to their own colleagues? If accurate, this raises many questions beyond just those of professional ethics. CivilNet has approached the university for comment.
AZERTAC further defends itself by noting that “none of the Agency’s correspondents participated in that event”, implying it is not responsible for the content of the report since it “published the information based on the press release from the University of Utah.”
What’s more, it notes that, “after Professor Steven Lobell, who participated in the event, addressed AZERTAC regarding his quote, his statements were removed from the report”, the quote’s sudden absence post-publication having been noted in the CivilNet investigation. This corresponds with CivilNet’s reporting that it had brought AZERTAC’s article to Professor Lobell’s attention and that he denied having said what was attributed to him.
CivilNet made multiple attempts to contact AZERTAC through its online contact form, as well as by e-mail on December 7. AZERTAC ignores or denies those inquiries claiming that CivilNet’s “article was published unilaterally.” Multiple requests for comment ahead of the article’s publication were also made to Dr. Yavuz, as well as the Azerbaijani Consul General in Los Angeles Ramil Gurbanov, who took part in the workshop. No responses were received to CivilNet’s inquiries.
AZERTAC concluded its statement declaring “we categorically reject the claim that the mentioned quotes were made up by AZERTAC and consider it as an attempt to damage the Agency’s reputation.” Indeed, the evidence it offers appears to suggest that AZERTAC did not make up the quotes itself in this case, but instead lifted verbatim the press release it had been sent, with alleged falsifications, without attempting to verify it.
In placing the responsibility for the fabricated quotes on Professors Yavuz and Wasilewska, the question remains as to why this alleged press release from an American public research university would contain false quotes attributed to its own faculty members without their knowledge vilifying Armenians and praising Heydar Aliyev in line with the Azerbaijani government’s official talking points. After the AZERTAC article, partially walking back from responsibility and pointing to University of Utah faculty as their source, a member of the University of Utah’s communications staff has indicated to CivilNet that a statement on the matter is forthcoming.
Meanwhile, AZERTAC has taken the allegations about its reporting on the workshop extremely seriously, and the link to its statement appears in its news feed in bold red font, something it does for only its most important stories. Furthermore, even though AZERTAC’s posts on the platform X (formerly Twitter) rarely garner more than a handful of likes, the English-language tweet it made linking to their statement on the matter received over 600 likes within the first hours it was posted, while the Azerbaijani-language version has only three as of this writing. This abnormal virality would suggest the tweet may be artificially promoted through “bot armies” for which Azerbaijani social media has become notorious. Many of the likes came from accounts which are noted as being operatives for local branches of Azerbaijan’s New Azerbaijan Party (YAP), the ruling party founded by Heydar and now headed by his son President Ilham Aliyev. This same network has been responsible in recent months for other artificial social media attacks, such as a disinformation campaign which according to French authorities “had the objective of harming France’s reputation in its capacity to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
CivilNet will continue to report on this story as it develops.
