AZERTAC strongly condemns disinformation about its employees circulated in French media – STATEMENT

The French media is circulating a disinformation on AZERTAC’s sending its employees to New Caledonia to allegedly destabilize France. They were even described as “spies”.

We recall that two journalists of AZERTAC were sent to New Caledonia on December 3, 2023 on an editorial assignment. One of them was denied entry into the country on a pretext of ALLEGEDLY MISSING VISA and was deported after being held by the police for one day. It is unacceptable to stigmatize our employees, who have been engaged in journalistic activities for a long time, as “spies”. The emergence of such an article after the injustices committed in relation to our journalist and its circulation all over the world shows that this disinformation was orchestrated by official French institutions. This represents nothing other than an attempt to cover up the injustices committed against our journalist in New Caledonia. The French government's attempt to unofficially label journalists marching for freedom in New Caledonia as “spies” represents utter disrespect for the demands of such fundamental principles as democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

The injustice committed in relation to our journalist in New Caledonia was even condemned by Daniel Goa, president of the Caledonian Union political party, in a statement. His letter to our journalist says, “As president of the Caledonian Union political party and spokesperson for the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), I want to express my full support for you in the aftermath of the discrimination you were subjected to during your visit to Noumea on December 3, 2023. We have once again witnessed a truly extreme colonialist attitude towards the dissemination of information about peoples under colonial rule.”

The fake article mentions that the Minister of Defense of France visited New Caledonia on the eve of the developments and the journalists went there to cover this visit. The article also says that journalists are “spies”. In doing so, they contradict themselves– on one hand, they write that the journalists went there to cover the events and then they describe them as “spies”. It should be noted that the editorial assignment given to AZERTAC journalists was to cover the independence rally on December 5. In addition, our journalists were supposed to prepare reports about the lifestyle, socioeconomic situation and culture of the local Kanak people. Unfortunately, the editorial assignments were not fully completed since one our employees was not allowed to enter the country.

AZERTAC vehemently rejects the absurd and nonsensical claims mentioned in the article and considers them provocative and fake. We strongly condemn the circulation of such disinformation by the French media as an attempt to create confusion and conceal the truth from the international community, not as an indication of free press.