Reporters Without Borders NGO that advocates freedom of the press issued a statement voicing concern about work of Armenian and Azerbaijani colleagues.

The organization is very concerned that both Armenia and Azerbaijan have been denying entry to foreign journalists amid an increase in tension between the two countries over Nagorno-Karabakh, the statement reads.

Stressing that the media have become a hostage to the conflict, organization urges the Armenian and Azerbaijan authorities to leave the media out of their diplomatic dispute.

“Journalists must be free to do their work, which involves covering matters of general interest, including ones as sensitive as the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. They must be able to able to move about without having to obtain permission from either side. Compiling blacklists of journalists for exclusion is both unacceptable and ineffective,” the statement reads.

Reporters Without Borders mention the cases of Yuri Snegirev, the correspondent of the Russian daily Izvestiya and Bloomberg photo-journalist Diana Markosyan who were banned from entering Azerbaijan.

Sergei Buntman, the deputy chief editor of the Moscow-based independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, was banned from visiting Azerbaijan this May.

Besides, a TV crew from Sweden’s First National TV was arrested and escorted to the airport in Azerbaijan while trying to cover an opposition demonstration on 17 April.

A few days later, a leading New York Times reporter was told he would not get a visa if did not submit the articles he had written about Azerbaijan and explain why there was so much “negative information” about Azerbaijan in the United States.

“Although apparently a less repressive country, Armenia preceded its neighbour in barring journalists. A four-member crew that wanted to film interviews for a documentary that the Lithuanian TV station Komanda was making about Nagorno-Karabakh was denied entry on arrival at Yerevan airport on 11 March. They finally left after waiting for 28 hours at the airport.

Several Armenian news media then claimed that the documentary’s producer, Andrius Brokas, was a spy working for Azerbaijan and a senior Armenian foreign ministry official told the media that “it is obvious that their aim was to damage Armenia’s reputation.” In response to a query from Reporters Without Borders, foreign ministry adviser Tigran Mkrchyan said in a 22 March letter that the crew was turned back ‘for security reasons’,” the statement says.