Fast Facts Languages: Tatar, Bashkir, Crimean Tatar Coverage: Four hours a day on SW and satellite, one additional hour on satellite, 10 minutes weekly on FM in Crimea Established: 1953 Distribution: Radio (SW, Satellite), Internet (www.azatliq.org) Locations: Prague headquarters, Kazan Staff: 6 (Prague), 6 (Kazan), 25 stringers

Media Environment

• Freedom House Freedom of the Press Index, 2010: Not Free (175th/196)
• Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, 2009: 153rd/175
• Media outlets in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan face similar restrictions to those elsewhere in Russia. Journalists, activists, and others who oppose the policies of the two republics risk imprisonment, and opposition websites are routinely shut down with little or no explanation. Charges of libel and “instigating extremism” are often used to silence journalists and whistleblowers. In 2008, Radio Azatliq was forced off of FM radio after 10 years on the air following political pressure from Moscow. It now reaches its audience through shortwave, satellite, and the Internet.
• Radio Azatliq is the only international broadcaster in the Tatar and Bashkir languages that promotes democratic values (to two important linguistic groups living within Russia) by providing independent, balanced information, and encouraging free exchange of opinions, based on solid professional standards.

Highlights

• Radio Azatliq was the first RFE/RL broadcast service to produce television programs. The first TV program focused on the future of minority languages and media in a globalized world. The project served as a model for further RFE/RL programs in Tbilisi, Belgrade, and Sarajevo.
• The Tatar-Bashkir Service has produced broadcasts in the endangered Crimean Tatar language since the 1960s. Programs in Crimean Tatar are aired twice weekly and are retransmitted into Crimea. The Crimean Tatars were deported from their homeland in 1944 on orders from Stalin. They began returning only after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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TATARSTAN

Population
3.8 million (2002 Census)
 
Most Common Languages:
Tatar, Russia

BASHKORTOSTAN

Population
4.1 million (2002 Census)

Most Common Languages:
Russian, Tatar, Bashkir