BBC Baku operation closed

The BBC issued this statement on 20 February:

Following verbal instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, the BBC has made the reluctant decision to close its office in the country and to suspend the activities of our excellent journalists in Baku.

We deeply regret this restrictive move against press freedom, which will hinder our ability to report to and from Azerbaijan for our audiences inside and outside the country. Each week around 1million people get trusted impartial news from BBC News Azerbaijani.

We are in contact with the Azerbaijani government to clarify their instruction and to try to resolve the situation.

We will continue our news services in Azerbaijani.

It is unclear what has prompted this move by the Azerbaijan government. The BBC launched its Azeri radio service in 1994, moving to digital platforms where it continues to attract upward of a million users each week – one tenth of the country’s population. BBC Monitoring, which watches and listens to television and radio services globally, operated an office in Baku monitoring Central Asia media outlets.