Activists called on COP31 participants to support the arrested Meydan TV journalists.
The non-governmental environmental organization Polen Ekoloji, operating in Turkey, has issued an appeal to participants of the UN climate summit in Antalya, urging them to demand the release of Meydan TV journalists Aytac Tapdyg and Khayala Agaeva, who were arrested in Azerbaijan.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the case against Meydan TV was initiated in December 2024, when six journalists were detained and subsequently arrested on charges of currency smuggling. They linked the criminal case to their professional activities. By August 2025, 11 people had been arrested in the Meydan TV case. At the end of August, it became known that the investigation was completed, and a 12th suspect appeared in the case - photojournalist Ahmed Mukhtar. Meanwhile, the arrested journalists were faced with new charges under seven additional criminal articles. On December 12, 2025, at the first hearing of the Meydan TV case, the court refused to close the criminal case and release the defendants.
Eco-activists from the Turkish movement Polen Ekoloji appealed to participants of the UN climate summit at COP-31, which is taking place in Antalya from November 9, urging them to demand the release of Meydan TV journalists Aytac Tapdyg and Khayala Agaeva, who were arrested in Azerbaijan. The authors of the appeal reminded about their reports on protests in the village of Soyudlu and animal rights activists' actions during COP29 in Baku.
The authors of the statement emphasized that Azerbaijani activists engaged in animal rights protection are also asking the international community to pay attention to the criminal prosecution of Meydan TV employees. Activists called on like-minded individuals during the COP31 summit to publish solidarity posts with photos of Aytac Tapdyg and Khayala Agaeva, as well as to support the demand for their release.
Particular attention in the material is given to reports about events in the village of Soyudlu. In June 2023, local residents protested against the construction of a second artificial lake for waste disposal from a gold mining company, pointing out the threat to ecology and human health. The police violently dispersed the protesters using special means. Aytac Tapdyg became one of the first journalists to cover the conflict directly from the scene. A few months later, Tapdyg and Agaeva attempted to visit the village again, but, as noted in the appeal, they “faced surveillance by plainclothes security forces and were not allowed into the settlement.”
The statement also mentions reports by the journalists from the outskirts of Baku, filmed during COP29. This material discussed the problems of residents in areas polluted by oil extraction and the dilapidated houses that authorities fenced off from the main roads with special barriers to prevent them from spoiling the facade of prosperity.
Two weeks after the COP29 summit, in December 2024, both journalists were arrested during a new wave of repression against independent media. It is also reported that two weeks after COP29, participant Khamran Mamedli was detained, subjected to beatings, electric shock torture, and banned from leaving the country.
Currently, the trial in the Meydan TV case is ongoing, the lawyer of Agaeva, Nazim Musaev, informed the correspondent of the “Caucasian Knot.” According to the lawyer, his client and other defendants do not plead guilty and link the criminal case to their professional journalistic activities.
Let us remind you that in February, Meydan TV journalists Aytac Tapdyg, Aysel Umudova, and Khayala Agaeva demanded an investigation into the violence against them in the Baku detention center and punishment for the security forces. In April, the Azerbaijani Penitentiary Service responded to the complaint of Aytac Tapdyg's relatives, stating that the detention center staff did not use violence against the journalist.