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About the Service

Operating from Prague, Radio Azadliq relies on user-generated content and social media for reporting that audiences trust. 

Azadliq was the first media outlet to report Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991. 

Its investigative reporting on public corruption, political prisoners, and electoral fraud is widely cited by international media. 

Provides cross-border reporting on the Armenia-Azerbaijani conflict with in-depth analysis. 

Digital content includes reels, video explainers, data visualization projects and exclusive court reporting series. 

Produces a popular political cartoon series. 

Reaching Audiences

Media Climate

Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index ranks Azerbaijan 151st out of 180 countries.  

Radio Azadliq has come under significant pressure as the media situation declines due to new legislative and administrative restrictions. 

Radio Azadliq was banned from broadcasting on FM frequencies in 2009. The Service’s Baku bureau was raided and shut down in 2014 and later had its website blocked in 2017. 

Former bureau chief Khadija Ismayilova was arrested and jailed for 18 months in 2014. 

Azerbaijani law enforcement targeted Service freelancers with Pegasus spyware in 2021. 

Journalist Aytan Mammadova was physically attacked and threatened at knifepoint in 2022 for covering criminal investigations. 

Media Center

Latest Updates

RFE/RL Outraged By Pegasus Project Revelations Involving Azerbaijani Service Journalists

RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly expressed outrage at revelations that the smartphones of RFE/RL journalists may have been targeted for infection with the Pegasus spyware application.

RFE/RL Reporters 2017

RFE/RL Reporters Faced ‘Relentless Pressure’ In 12 Of 23 Countries In 2017

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalists have been targeted in no fewer than 38 incidents in at least 12 of the countries they cover in 2017.

Service Director

Ilkin Mammadov

Ilkin Mammadov is the Service Director of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Radio Azadliq. Having joined RFE/RL in 2004, he has reported on major news events and played a leading role in launching several of the service’s signature programs on radio, TV, and the internet. Previously, he worked for Internews-Network and several local TV stations in Baku. Mammadov holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baku State University. 

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