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Media Advocate initiative on Wednesday published an interview with Jakob Kürüm, the editor and author of SCEPTR and a journalist for Pallieterke and Assyria TV.

Media Advocate: From the beginning of the war, Azerbaijan has targeted the journalists. For instance, Russian journalists and also journalists from the French periodical Le Monde were injured. Do you think they do it deliberately as all of them had a sign of the press? 

Jakob Kürüm: I think they target the journalists. Azerbaijan had a practice of targeting peaceful individuals in the past as well. We remember how they killed the Armenian officer in Hungary. Safarov was imprisoned but we all know how Azerbaijan paid the Hungarian side to have him back home. They treated him like a hero. They made a terrorist a national hero of their country. This case tells a lot about targeting the journalists.

Media Advocate: As a journalist you see many things on the frontline. For example, they shell schools and civilian infrastructures as well as target civilians. Whenever you write about this war crimes, Azerbaijani side insists that it is a falsification, fake news. How should you work or interact when Azerbaijan considers your publication to be a fake news?

Jakob Kürüm: Some time ago, a video went viral where one may see how two Armenian prisoners of war were executed by the Azerbaijani soldiers. After it, the Azerbaijani side stated that the video is fake. Later BBC’s investigation proved that statement to be wrong. It was horrible. I personally have interviewed some people who know the families of those executed, so I am sure, it is real. I know Azerbaijan lied. So, we should work together, so as they do not accept such horrible incidents initiated by Azerbaijan. I do not really get how the world accepts it.

Media Advocate: The Media Advocate team has announced their support to all the journalists who were injured in Artsakh when conducting their professional duties. Do you think the international community and the journalists in the world should express their solidarity with their colleagues and support those who were injured?

Jakob Kürüm: The rights of the journalists should be protected. By reaching the conflict zones, they try to cover important issues, so, yes, they should be supported. As far as this war is concerned, I am personally sad that a lot of soldiers die, Azerbaijan started this war with an attempt to perpetrate a new genocide. We see how usually the civilian areas are being bombed, how civilians are being killed. This war is a new genocide against Christians of Artsakh.