Sevinj Osmanqizi ( az, Sevinc Osmanqızı) (born 22 June 1969) is a journalist, media personality, author and evening TV show host best known for her serious interviews with various political figures. She is one of the most critical and courageous voices of dissent in broadcasting about Azerbaijan. She is known for her forthright interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. She currently produces and hosts a daily news program on YouTube called: OSMANQIZI TV. Osmanqizi was
ANS TV
ANS TV (also known as ''ANS Independent Broadcasting Media Company'') was a news television channel in Azerbaijan, which was owned by ANS Group of Companies from its foundation on 26 November 1991 until its closure on 18 July 2016. Its name, ANS, ...
network's Chief Editor and News Director, Founding Chairwoman of
WMW.
She is the first
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
i woman appointed to a diplomatic post, a ''CNN World View'' contributor, and host of the weekly debate programme ''
Open Talk
''Open Talk'' ( az, Açıq söhbət) is a weekly topical debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing vi ...
''.
Biography
She was born Sevinj Mirzayeva in
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
, Azerbaijan to a known journalist
Osman Mirzayev
Osman Mirzayev ( az, Osman Mirzəyev Mirzahuseyn oğlu; April 13, 1937 – November 20, 1991) was a journalist, writer and publicist in Soviet Azerbaijan, then part of the USSR. The journalist is the father of Sevinj Osmanqizi.
Osman Mirzayev is ...
and his wife, newspaper editor Solmaz Mirzayeva. After the country regained its independence in 1991, her father rose to the position of Senior Advisor to the President of Azerbaijan Republic. Osmanqizi's father was killed at 53 on the board of MI-8 military helicopter, carrying an international peacekeeping mission team to Nagorno-Karabakh. Her father's tragic death have greatly affected her.
After graduating from university, she worked as TV reporter and became popular for her news reports from the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in th ...
. In 1990's she was one of the first news presenters introducing independent from government reporting, contributing a newer, outspoken quality to Azerbaijani television. In 1992, Osmanqizi demonstrated her distinctive line of questioning in interview with British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
. She has regularly made headlines with interviewees such as
James Baker
James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President ...
,
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...
and others.
In 1994, Osmanqizi became the first Azerbaijani woman appointed to a diplomatic post when she was named Deputy Spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry. However her diplomatic career was brief; Later in 1994 she moved to UK to work for
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
.
Upon return to Azerbaijan, Osmanqizi became Chief Editor of ANS Independent Broadcast Company. From 2008 to 2011 she hosted the weekly programme Friday with Sevinj Osmanqizi and from 2011, the weekly debate show
Open Talk
''Open Talk'' ( az, Açıq söhbət) is a weekly topical debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing vi ...
.
Political Debate Moderator
In 2011, Osmanqizi introduced political special
Open Talk
''Open Talk'' ( az, Açıq söhbət) is a weekly topical debate
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing vi ...
, a televised debate between political leaders and public figures. The debates addressed issues of political dialogue, corruption, fair elections, crackdown on political opponents, prisoners of conscience. It was originally intended to have only a short run, but the program became very popular and was duly extended. Political leaders labeled as “radical opposition” and blacklisted for over a decade, appeared in the debate. Media experts characterized the debates as the rare exception in the Azerbaijani media offering pluralism of views.
Investigating her father's death
She was 22 when her father, Osman Mirzayev, died. He was an important part of the administration – head of the press bureau and unofficial spokesman for then President
Ayaz Mutallibov
Ayaz Niyazi oghlu Mutallibov, russian: Аяз Ниязович Муталибов, Ayaz Niyazovich Mutalibov (12 May 1938 – 27 March 2022) was an Azerbaijani politician who served as the first president of Azerbaijan. He was the last leader ...
. She was working at the national television news centre as an intern, and heard the news being announced that a helicopter had crashed in Nagorno Karabakh. No alarm bells rang, because she thought her father was in Ganja. Then the announcer read out the names of the casualties, and suddenly she heard her father's name.
The Russian media initially said it was a tragic accident – then later that it had been shot down. The following day, November 21, the chairman of the crash investigation committee announced on TV that the helicopter was shot at by large caliber weapons. Meanwhile, investigators didn't get there till the next day, and were hampered in their inspection of the scene by Russian soldiers. The Russians had recovered the black box from the wreckage and sent it to Russia, but it was soon announced that it had been too badly damaged by fire to provide any information. An official investigation by the Azeri government failed to come to any conclusion, and closed after a few years 'as the area of the crash site was still under occupation'.
Eventually, frustrated with the lack of progress in the official investigation, Osmanqizi undertook her own. She traveled to the crash scene, interviewed dozens of eyewitnesses, tracked down the people in charge at the time, former investigators etc. She put together the hundreds of little pieces of evidence she was able to gather, and in 2011, on the 20th anniversary of the crash, the first part of her documentary "Mission of Peace" came out. It showed that the delegation of peacekeepers from Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan was killed only two days before the planned signing of a peace agreement. Their deaths were a fatal blow to peace talks and plunged Azerbaijan and Armenia into war over Nagorno Karabakh that took over 20,000 lives.
Threats, harassment and persecution
Threats, intimidation and violence have been used against Sevinc Osmanqizi to influence her journalism, including death threats and legal persecution. In early January 2015 the Azerbaijani government targeted Sevinc Osmanqizi in its latest attempt to stifle press freedom.
While Osmanqizi’s inquisitive, balanced, hard-hitting reporting had long garnered criticism from government officials who prefer to feed citizens propaganda, recent unsubstantiated allegations of libel – a criminal offense in Azerbaijan – caught her by surprise. In launching libel charges against Osmanqizi over the holidays, the Azerbaijani government was able to expedite the criminal case before she had the opportunity to challenge the allegations. Rights activists described the case as "trumped up charges after being critical of the government."
With more than 25 years of professional journalism experience, Osmanqizi is well versed in the language the Azerbaijani government likes to employ against free thinkers – especially those in the media spotlight. She says that, despite her best efforts to honor media ethics – accuracy, objectivity, transparency – she has long been flagged as a “traitor” and a “spy,” false accusations of espionage that come with harsh consequences.
The fact that her journalistic talents allowed her to freelance for international news outlets like the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
simply fueled government campaigns framing her as a threat to local government. The judge excluded journalists and foreign observers from attending Osmanqizi's trial.
Osmanqizi is no stranger to the dangers of practicing quality journalism in Azerbaijan. She comes from a family of journalists, including her father, Osman Mirzayev, who died on the job. His death ingrained an even deeper passion for truth-seeking and truth-telling in Osmanqizi, who began broadcast reporting at the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and went on to becoming the chief editor of ANS TV and host of a weekly debate program called Open Talk.
She also taught journalism at the US-Azerbaijan Journalism Academy.
Sadly, she says that if she were still teaching today, she’d advise students to prioritize their safety above all else because the best journalists are thrown in jail, not recognized for their contributions to the nation’s co-called democracy.
Since fleeing Azerbaijan for the U.S., she has been active in promoting democracy through her online news channel on YouTube. She has been one of the most popular and critical voices of dissent. She is regularly targeted for her courageous and independent voice. Her online news program OSMANQIZI TV has attracted more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Quotes
Documentaries
* "Black January, Red Carnations" (ANS TV, 2012)
* "Mission of Peace" ( ANS TV, 2011)
* "Mission of Peace-2" (ANS TV, 2012)
* "Civilizations" (BBC World Service, 1999)
References
External links
* Who is Osmanqizi
Sevinc Osmanqızı kimdir? - Timeturk* ANS TV introduces a political special, “Open Talk,” a televised debate between political partie
IREX MSI Index
* My father's helicopter was shut down BBC, Outlook
BBC World Service - Outlook, My Father's Helicopter Was Shot Down* 1news.az intervie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osmanqizi, Sevinj
1969 births
Journalists from Baku
Living people
Azerbaijani television news anchors
Azerbaijani television personalities