The politicization of the issue of the termination of the activities of the BBC's representative office in our country, the distortion of the essence of the issue by the BBC, the general double standards approach, and the BBC's statement against our country on the issue of media freedom are regrettable and unacceptable.

Axar.az reports that this was stated by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada while commenting on the Azerbaijani side's decision to terminate the activities of the BBC's representative office in the Republic of Azerbaijan, based on the statement issued by the BBC on February 20.

He stated that the decision to close the BBC's representative office in our country was officially conveyed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 13 during a meeting with the BBC's representatives in our country, and our position was fully explained to the other side.

"The counterparty was informed that the Republic of Azerbaijan always bases its relations and decisions on the principle of reciprocity with all foreign media organizations. As a result of the analyses conducted in this context, as well as the country's legislation, in particular Article 11.2 of the Law on Media, it was brought to attention that there is no legal basis for the BBC to operate as a representative office in our country.

It should be noted that the decision to close the representative office does not relate to the correspondent activities of the BBC broadcasting company in our country and it is intended to issue accreditation for 1 correspondent.

We would like to remind you that similar decisions have also been made regarding some other foreign media organizations," the Foreign Ministry official added.