Khadija Ismayilova is the Acting Bureau Chief for the Baku Bureau in RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service. Before joining RFE/RL, Ms. Ismayilova worked for over ten years in journalism, holding editor positions with several Azerbaijani newspapers and, as a reporter, covering politics and the economy for such publications as Echo, Caspian Business News, Eurasianet.org, Washington Times, BBC, Deutche Welle, Voice of America and Radio Liberty. Ms. Ismayilova has written on the human rights situation in both Iran and Azerbaijan, on oil and the economy, and internal and regional politics. She was awarded the H.B. Zardabi Prize by the Azerbaijani Journalists’ Union for her articles on Internal and International Politics in 2001. In addition, Ms. Ismayilova teaches investigative journalism at the ICFJ Journalism School in Baku.
MA, Turkish Philology, Council of Europe School of Political Studies; a graduate of Baku State University School of Eastern Studies
Ms. Ismayilova is a frequent interview subject, appearing on the BBC, Voice of America, and on Azerbaijani TV. Her interviews have been published by the Christian Science Monitor, the Agence France-Presse and the Wall Street Journal, among others. She contributes regularly to Eurasianet and Radio Liberty.