Elmi is-aprel 04(15). pdf

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lxalq elmi jurnal. Impakt faktorlu. 2021 

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4                                                              ISSN: 2663-4619 

SCIENTIFIC WORK international scientific journal. With Impact Factor. 2021 / Volume: 15 Issue: 4        e-ISSN: 2708-986X 

 

193 

During Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in one of the BBC news interviews, journalist Orla Guerin asked a 

question President Ilham Aliyev about one of the drones belonging to the Azerbaijani Armed Forces 

shelling 

Stepanakert where civilians live. Ilham Aliyev answered it was fake news and at the same time, the President 

claimed that such fake news was biased and black propaganda against Azerbaijan in the international media (8). 

Referring to the interview of President Ilham Aliyev, we can conclude that fake news is used for 

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There are various opinions about "propaganda", which is often used in conjunction with the term fake 

news in political agenda. Someone defines propaganda as the use of non-rational arguments to either 

advance or undermine a political ideal, and use disinformation as an alternative name for undermining 

propaganda (9, p. 2). According to other views, propaganda is a tool to use the political agenda and does not 

always serve an ill purposes (10, p. 33). Considering the above, we can conclude that fake news is used for 

propaganda purposes. More specifically, fake news is a means of propaganda, but it is not necessary to use 

only fake news for propaganda purposes. If the same goal is achieved, both false news and true information 

can be used as propaganda. 

During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan also waged an "information war" and still continues 

to fight against the false news and propaganda disseminate by Armenians. 

As a democratic country, Azerbaijan also recognizes freedom of speech and information (2). According 

to the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, everyone has the freedom to legally seek, receive, impart, 

produce, and disseminate (2). State censorship in mass media, including the press is prohibited (2). In his 

speeches, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan also repeatedly had noted the existence of media and 

Internet freedom in Azerbaijan, no censorship, and called on citizens to be careful against fake news and 

propaganda (11). 

Despite these speeches, on the morning of September 27, 2020, the day the Nagorno-Karabakh armed 

conflict began, certain restrictions were imposed on the Internet within the country without prior notice to 

citizens. So, first, access to social networks was restricted (Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), 

then the transfer of information between emails was stopped. This situation has caused dissatisfaction among 

citizens in terms of their personal affairs, as well as the perception among citizens that the state is hiding the 

real information about the war.  

On the day of the current situation, a representative of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and 

High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan told BBC News that the restriction of the Internet was 

limited in order to prevent provocations by Armenia (12). It is consider that restrictions were applied in the 

interests of national security in order to prevent disorders or crimes, protect health or morals, territirial 

integrity or public safety, which are among legitimate interests of the state specified in the EHCR.  

We consider that one of the main reasons for the state's restrictions on the use of the Internet was to prevent 

the dissemination of classified military information during the conflict. The interest in preventing the disclosure of 

information received in confidence on the Article 10.2. of the ECHR also gives power to states for this. However, 

we would like to note with regret that some posts shared from the conflict zone via VPN allowed the other side to 

determine the military point, which led to the loss of lives of Azerbaijani soldiers. In this regard, the Ministry of 

Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan has repeatedly appealed to the people (13). 

Despite Azerbaijan's fair faight and the state's constant call for justice, Armenians continued to 

disseminate provocative lies. One of the most common fake news shared by Armenians during the Nagorno-

Karabakh conflict was Azerbaijan's use of Syrian mercenaries during the war. Rising claims of use of merc 

enaries in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict have been found to be fake news produced by social media users, 

a research conducted by the Bulgaria-based think tank, Caspian and Black Sea Analysis Foundation (CCBS) 

said (14).  

According to CCBS, the person who shared the news was Kevork Almassian, a Syrian-Armenian user 

and without mentioning any specific and reliable source, Almassian put forth his 'insight' on Syrian 

mercenaries as a fact. On the same day, self-proclaimed investigative journalist, Lindsey Snell, tweeted her 

report on the deployment of "Turkish-backed Syrian National Army," by referring to Almassian and she also 

shared a photo of unknown person and The photo was accompanied by a comment on the Hamza Division's 

supposed arrival in Baku. Although the news was later shared by many other users, a CCBS investigation 

found that those who shared the news were simply referring to Snell's unverified information. 

On the above-shared news, we can once again consider the elements of the content of the fake news: 

false information, bias, dissemination in the media and propaganda. In this case, the fake news was used for 

propaganda purposes as mentioned above. 

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