“Journalism is not a crime.” These are the words with which Aynur Elgunesh marked the statement that was placed in front of her to sign, a write-up of the statement she had been forced to give without legal counsel, despite having requested her lawyer.
“Journalism is not a crime.” These are the words that, over and over again, Azerbaijan’s journalists have written, shouted, held above their heads on placards in protest of the Azerbaijani regime’s never-ending attempts to silence them.
Elgunesh, Meydan TV’s editor-in-chief, was detained on December 6th, 2024, one of six Meydan TV employees to be arrested on that day, the latest victims to the Aliyev regime’s crackdown on media workers. Two days later she was charged with smuggling and remanded for four months in pre-trial detention. Based off other similar cases in the past thirteen months, it is expected that her and the other detainees’ pre-trial detention will be repeatedly extended far past the four-month mark.
Meydan TV is known as Azerbaijan’s best, most reliable and most popular source for independent, unbiased news. This is in large part due to Aynur Elgunesh.
With a stature to match her humbleness (she clocks in at just over, if even, 5-feet tall), a cackling laugh and a fondness for strategy games, Elgunesh does not come across as a stern editor-in-chief. That is because she is not. Elgunesh has a compassionate, understanding art, one that cemented her role in Azerbaijan’s independent media landscape. This is why her former students continue to refer to her “Teacher”; she has been played an important role for many young people when applying to the Baku School of Journalism.
Unlike many veterans in their field, Elgunesh is never afraid of incorporating new ideas or listening to professional criticism, on the contrary, she herself has always continued learning, attending trainings and bringing her learnings back to the Meydan TV team. Of course, if she disagrees, she is no walkover, either. She stands her ground.
Journalists and editors are often, infamously so in the media branch, at odds. Journalists risking their freedom because of their dedication to press freedom are therefore not a group prone to staying silent when they disagree. It is Aynur’s patience with her journalists and high professional standards that developed Meydan TV and its team into a force to be reckoned with, an editorial team with a devotion to impartiality and conflict-sensitivity most popular international outlets could stand to learn something from.
Perhaps it is her upbringing and her life story that have formed her managerial style: An internally displaced refugee as a teenager when she had to flee Aghdam, working her way through journalism school with little money, she has had what can be considered a difficult path. Perhaps these experiences taught her compassion for others, and understanding for her employees. Or perhaps it simply is who she is.
It is no doubt that Meydan TV and Azerbaijani newsreaders are indebted to her.
Journalism not a crime. Journalism is a calling. A calling Aynur Elgunesh has courageously answered.
