Azerbaijan’s media landscape is changing in ways that seem set to enhance the government’s already tight grip on the flow of information.

Azerbaijan’s most influential independent news outlet, the Turan Information Agency, dropped some shocking news February 13, announcing a pause in operations due to financial pressures.

“Despite our relentless efforts to secure the necessary resources to continue, the financial difficulties that have plagued us for many years have finally forced us to make the difficult decision to cease operations of the agency in its current format,” read a statement, issued by the outlet’s director Mehman Aliyev.

The Turan chief insisted the agency would relaunch “under a new format” that not only covers important issues but also promotes solutions. “The future of modern journalism is not only to report news, but also to shape public opinion,” Aliyev wrote, without giving a timeframe for the debut of Turan v 2.0. Many Azerbaijani media observers question whether the revamped news agency will ever appear.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani government is cracking down on a major Russian news outlet operating in Baku, Sputnik, a news agency affiliated with Russia Today. According to a February 13 report published by the government-connected Caliber.az website, authorities are expelling virtually all of the roughly 40 Russian staffers working in the agency’s Baku bureau, a move that seems connected to an ongoing spat between the two countries over the accidental Russian shoot-down of an Azerbaijani civilian jetliner in December.

“To address the existing disparity between the representation of Azerbaijani and Russian state news agencies in Russia and Azerbaijan, respectively, the number of [Sputnik-] ‘Russia Today’ correspondents in Azerbaijan will be equal to the number of "Azertag" correspondents operating in Russia,” the Caliber report stated. “Currently, this involves one staff position.”

The work of the lone Sputnik/RT representative left in Azerbaijan will “be regulated in accordance with Azerbaijani law,” according to the report, wording that suggests the reporter will operate under heavy scrutiny. The Caliber.az report added that BBC reporters in Baku will also face “certain adjustments” in their ability to report on developments, without providing specifics.

The loss of the Turan news agency, which was founded in 1990, is a crippling blow for watchdog journalism in Azerbaijan. Following crackdowns on other independent media outlets, including Abzas Media and Toplum TV in 2023 and 2024, Turan was considered the last bastion of independent journalism in Azerbaijan. 

The news comes amid a continuing governmental push to muzzle independent journalists. On February 6, authorities placed in pre-trial detention two more journalists, Shamshad Agha, an editor of the Argument.az news site, and Shahnaz Baylargizi, a journalist for Toplum TV. Both are suspected of smuggling and other financial crimes. Rights activists say the detentions are politically motivated.

Following Baylargizi’s arrest, Toplum TV released a statement that it will cease its work inside the country and continue operations in exile. The latest detentions raise the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan to 357, 27 of whom are journalists and bloggers. 

“Veteran journalist Shahnaz Baylargizi’s arrest underscores how Azerbaijani authorities are exploiting allegations of Western funding to silence leading independent voices,” said Gulnoza Said, Committee to Protect Journalists’ Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Baylargizi suffers from acute health challenges, and each day she unjustly spends behind bars jeopardizes her life. Azerbaijani authorities must immediately release her along with all other unjustly jailed journalists.”