SOFIA, JULY 7, ARMENPRESS. All efforts of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Bulgaria to undermine the activities of Tsvetana Paskaleva, the Bulgarian filmmaker and journalist, did not even gain the slightest attention of neither Bulgaria’s state sector, nor the country’s public circles. The Azerbaijani Ambassador even had to report to the foreign minister of his country that all their pressures against the journalist have failed. This illegitimate behavior is exposing Azerbaijan’s general views over the freedom of speech and press.

Quite interesting details have emerged as ARMENPRESS carried out an investigation of the documents containing diplomatic cables, which were published by Anonymous Bulgaria.

Nargiz Gurbanova, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Bulgaria had been directly reporting to her foreign minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, about the activities of Paskaleva.

“Since January 2017, we have raised the issue of Paskaleva’s activities during meetings with Bulgarian foreign ministry officials, such as Gancho Ganev – director of the Europe and Central Asia Directorate of the ministry, Giorgi Panajotov – head of the Caucasus and Central Asia department of the same Directorate, as well as Kostadin Kodzhabashev – director general of the Bilateral Relations General Directorate. During the meetings we expressed discontent regarding Paskaleva and we mentioned that this kind of occurrences harm the Azerbaijani-Bulgarian relations. We mentioned that it is unacceptable for us that the Union of Journalists of Bulgaria and other NGOs are supporting the distribution of her [Paskaleva’s] propaganda ideas. We also emphasized the necessity of Bulgarian state bodies taking action in order to counter this occurrence”, the Ambassador said in the cable.

Naturally, Bulgarian officials diplomatically avoided to be drawn into further discussions of the issue.

The Azerbaijani Embassy was also engaged in enormous efforts in an attempt to have Paskaleva removed from Bulgaria’s Union of Journalists and the Union of Filmmakers.

The Azerbaijani Ambassador was eager to mention all details of the smear campaign against Paskaleva in the report to Baku.  “We’ve also mentioned that regardless of the fact that Paskaleva had lived in Armenia, she is currently a member of Bulgaria’s Union of Journalists and Union of Filmmakers and is using these institutions as a platform for her dirty propaganda ( Paskaleva’s 1994 film collection “Wounds of Karabakh” was screened in Bulgaria in February 2012 with the active support and participation of the Armenian Community)”.

As the negotiations with Bulgarian foreign ministry officials turned out to be unproductive, the Ambassador sent a letter presenting Paskaleva’s activities to the Union of Journalists. However, the Ambassador’s letter addressed to Snezhana Todorova – president of the Union – suffered the same ineffective fate. On April 5, 2017, Vusal Abdullayev – advisor of the Azerbaijani Ambassador had a meeting with Todorova to discuss the details of the Ambassador’s upcoming meeting with Bulgarian journalists. The advisor used the occasion to once again raise the issue of Paskaleva’s activities.

“At this meeting, Snezhana Todorova said that she doesn’t know Paskaleva very well and that she has simply met her during a visit to Armenia in the 2000s. The president of the Union emphasized that Paskaleva has not paid her membership fee for the union in the past one year and her membership has been frozen. The president of the union specially mentioned that the sole reason behind freezing Paskaleva’s membership was not paying the membership fee: neither other circumstances nor the Azerbaijani circumstance has anything to do with it. Todorova also mentioned that she would be happy if her Union will be able to help the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. She didn’t rule out that Tsvetana Paskaleva might once again become a member of the Union, in case of paying the membership fees [showing that there is no other problem]”, the Azerbaijani Ambassador’s report said.

Angered by Todorova’s attitude, the Azerbaijani Ambassador noted the following in the cable addressed to Baku: “In this context it is noteworthy that despite Snezhana Todorova’s efforts to be polite and maintain the balance, taking into account her arguments during the meeting we noticed that her heart is drawn to the side of Armenians”.

During the meeting with the Azerbaijani diplomat, Snezhana Todorova had also mentioned that a large Armenian Community is present in Bulgaria which has had great contribution in the country’s history.

The Azerbaijani envoy also wanted to meet with the president of Bulgaria’s Union of Filmmakers, since Paskaleva is also a member of this insitution.

“Taking into consideration the fact that Tsvetana Paskaleva is also a member of Bulgaria’s Union of Filmmakers, we’ve also requested a meeting with the president of this union”, the report says.

It is noteworthy that this isn’t the only leaked document aimed at obstructing journalists.

ARMENPRESS will continue publishing the remaining facts and documents.

Aram Ananyan, Aren Petunts, Davit Mamyan