Azerbaijan protests to Germany over Der Spiegel publication

Azerbaijan has protested over the mention of the country by the German outlet Der Spiegel as part of an investigation into the former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), August Hanning.

According to information obtained by APA from diplomatic sources, Azerbaijan has, through special services and diplomatic channels, lodged a protest in this regard with both the German Chancellor's office and Germany's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Note that the German outlet Der Spiegel, citing sources, mentioned Azerbaijan in connection with the investigation into the former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), August Hanning. The outlet claims that August Hanning, who headed Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in 1998–2005, spied for Azerbaijan, prepared certain secret reports, and handed them over to the Azerbaijani side.

We would add that the Media and Broadcasting Council also issued a statement on this matter.

The statement notes that presenting to a wide audience as fact the groundless claims linking Azerbaijan to the said investigation, which were initially spread by the German outlet Der Spiegel and then replicated by Reuters, AFP, France 24, The Times, The Telegraph, and other international media resources, raises serious concern, and that the dissemination of such materials without reference to an official source is considered unacceptable information manipulation.