Armenia withdraws from Eurovision after Azerbaijan Comment

[vuvuzela2010]

YEREVAN -- Citing an "anti-Armenian" statement made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenia has officially announced its decision not to participate in Europe's most popular song contest, which will be held in Baku in May.

Armenian Public Television, which selects the country's participants for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, attributed the boycott to Aliyev's March 1 remark that "the Armenians of the world" are his nation's main enemy.

"Although the Azerbaijani authorities promised security guarantees for all participating countries, Azerbaijan's president 'made an exception' for one of those countries several days ago, declaring that Azerbaijan's No. 1 enemy is the Armenians scattered around the world," the state-run broadcaster said in a statement.

"We can conclude that the president of a Eurovision host country is officially stating that all Armenians, including those who would be included in the Eurovision delegation, are the enemies of Azerbaijan. Therefore, it would make no sense to send our participant to a country where they would be received as an enemy.

"We are convinced that the atmosphere created by this and other anti-Armenian statements and actions cannot ensure equal conditions for all singers participating in Eurovision," the statement said.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organizer of the annual contest watched by tens of millions of TV viewers, was quick to express disappointment over the decision.

Ell and Nikki of Azerbaijan celebrate on stage after winning the Eurovision Song Contest final in Duesseldorf in May 2011.
​​"We are truly disappointed by the broadcaster's decision to withdraw from this year's Eurovision Song Contest," the contest's executive supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, said in a statement posted on the EBU's website.

"Despite the efforts of the EBU and the host broadcaster to ensure a smooth participation for the Armenian delegation in this year's contest, circumstances beyond our control led to this unfortunate decision," he said.

Azerbaijan won the right to stage the 2012 edition of Eurovision in Baku thanks to the victory of an Azerbaijani duo in last year's contest held in Duesseldorf, Germany. Armenian Public Television has since made its participation in the Baku show conditional on firm security guarantees by the Azerbaijani government.

Some of Armenia's leading pop singers and composers spoke out against Armenia's participation late last month. One of them, Artur Grigorian, director of the State Music Theater in Yerevan, welcomed the boycott, citing the unresolved conflict over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We can't go to a country that currently holds [several] Armenian soldiers as prisoners," Grigorian told RFE/RL's Armenian Service. "I'm saying this as a citizen, not as a composer or artist. I just don't want to see an Armenian singer sing on that soil."

Please ignore the spelling errors and the War tag in the title (the annoying thing saved itself). And the title should also say Armenia withdraws from Eurovision after host Azerbaijan's president makes "Enemy" remark, but there wasnt enough space

 

[Shinobu]

Re: Armenia withdraws from Eurovision after hoist Azerbaijan's president makes "em

Absolutely no one saw this coming.

This shouldn't have the war marker in the title.

 

[DerMißingno]

Re: Armenia withdraws from Eurovision after hoist Azerbaijan's president makes "em

You can edit your title, you know.

 

[Nicoleta01]

Re: Armenia withdraws from Eurovision afterAzerbaijan Comment

I've edited the title and removed the prefix.

 

[Keldeo94]

Technically the 2 countries are still at war. They never signed a peace agreement as to my knowledge.

I voted yes to Armenia with drawing. I don't think Azerbaijan should have been allowed to host the contest at all.

Back in 2008 Azerbaijan broke Eurovision rules by refusing to show the Armenian entry, they also arrested people in their country who had voted for Armenia, on counts of "treason." In Azerbaijan, it is still technically illegal to be an Armenian citizen and set foot in Azerbaijan. There is much hostility towards Armenia, not just from the Azerbaijan government, but from the people of Azerbaijan as well, who were reported to have been celebrating in the streets at the fact they had forced Armenia to withdraw. To many of us the Eurovision is just a light hearted bit of fun, but for several countries in the East, it's the equivalent of the soccer world cup.

Azerbaijan has a terrible record on human rights, and they weren't able to offer guarantees to the safety of the Armenian and Israeli delegations. Israel however is still going it should be noted. The song contest should never have been allowed in Azerbaijan and I wish more countries would pull out. The contest has a huge gay following, and many of the fans that travel to host countries to watch the contest live in the stadium are LGBT.

Homosexuality was illegal in Azerbaijan as recent as the mid 90's, and while it is now legal, there is still a lot of homophobic abuse and police refusal to do anything about homophobic related crime. So why they are allowed to host an event with a huge LGBT following is beyond me.

Also I dislike how they are building a brand new Stadium to host the contest in while there people starve. Similar to Beijing hosting the Olympics, animals are being shot and families are being evicted and their homes demolished just so Azerbaijan can host a music contest for 3 nights.

So, yes, Armenia should withdraw, but then so should the other countries. Poland has already withdrawn although they didn't give a reason.

 

[vuvuzela2010]

Poland has already withdrawn although they didn't give a reason.

Poland's co-hosting UEFA Euro 2012, so they probably cant afford to (potentially) host both. Likely the same reason us and Russia are sending pensioners, since we've both got the Olympics to worry about.

I think Azerbaijan possibly still remembers the joke Sirusho played during Armenia's voting in 2009, and probably made this comment to force their withdrawal and prevent Armenia showing them up again. At least they tried to add a bit of humour to an otherwise heated conflict, rather than threaten to invade them.

 

[Keldeo94]

Poland has already withdrawn although they didn't give a reason.

Poland's co-hosting UEFA Euro 2012, so they probably cant afford to (potentially) host both. Likely the same reason us and Russia are sending pensioners, since we've both got the Olympics to worry about.

I don't think that's the case when both Ireland and Greece are in it still, especially Greece, and both seem to be trying to win. Also Ukraine is still entering, and their GDP is about 3x smaller.

[quote0I think Azerbaijan possibly still remembers the joke Sirusho played during Armenia's voting in 2009, and probably made this comment to force their withdrawal and prevent Armenia showing them up again. At least they tried to add a bit of humour to an otherwise heated conflict, rather than threaten to invade them.[/QUOTE]

I doubt that specific event was going through their head at the time, but yes, it was a clear example of tensions between the 2. I remember seeing it on the night not knowing what it meant, thinking she had just got drunk and had to be given a clipboard as she couldnt remember the scores.

 

[Shinobu]

This is just to put into context how antagonistic Azerbaijan has been to Armenia in the context of Eurovision:
One year the Azerbaijani television station censored the number needed to vote for Armenia. They were fined for that.

Another year the Azerbaijani government questioned all of the Azerbaijanis who voted for the Armenian entry that year.

 

[Mitchman]

Good to see Eurovision has been turned into a political wastedump for dick-waving between countries from a harmless music competition created to bring us all together. Can't wait to see what's gonna happen.

 

[Keldeo94]

Good to see Eurovision has been turned into a political wastedump for dick-waving between countries from a harmless music competition created to bring us all together. Can't wait to see what's gonna happen.

If You Don't Do Politics.... - YouTube

This is one of my favourite adverts of all time it explains the point perfectly. That pretty much everything, is to do with Politics.

 

[Mitchman]

Sure never said it never had to do with politics. Just the type of politics that are portrayed in today's Eurovision are far far FAR different from what they had been portraying up until the 90s. Just cause its politics, doesn't mean its right politics. It might still be sort of in line of what Eurovision wants to be, but dragging wars and general hate for an entire country goes too far. You don't see Greece and Turkey doing this do you? No! Do you see UK and Ireland getting all hot about it? NO! There's a line, and they've crossed it, simple as that.

 

[Keldeo94]

Sure never said it never had to do with politics. Just the type of politics that are portrayed in today's Eurovision are far far FAR different from what they had been portraying up until the 90s. Just cause its politics, doesn't mean its right politics. It might still be sort of in line of what Eurovision wants to be, but dragging wars and general hate for an entire country goes too far. You don't see Greece and Turkey doing this do you? No! Do you see UK and Ireland getting all hot about it? NO! There's a line, and they've crossed it, simple as that.

I think we're arguing different arguments, we're probably actually agreeing. I thought you were saying that it was wrong politics was involved in a singing contest, as I hear that a lot, but actually politics is involved in everything.

But yes you're right this is the wrong type of politics. Uk and Ireland are actually good friends in the Eurovision, they are the only country we can rely on for points.

Unfortunately Eurovision is very political, you can guess which country the voters are going to give 12 points too just by looking at a simple map of Europe and a list of what unions they used to be in.

There is a lot animosity between countries, for example Azerbaijan and Armenia never vote for each other. Israel never votes for Germany, although Germany does vote for Israel. Surprisingly though, Serbia and Croatia who fought a bloody war in the 90's and still seem to have a lot of disputes today, don't mind voting for each other, but then that's probably due to the peoples of those countries dispersed, ie the great number of serbs in croatia etc, again due to politics.

 

[Mitchman]

I'm in one of the lesser favored countries
, boy do I know about the vote riggin, you don't need to lay it out in front of me.

 

[vuvuzela2010]

Unfortunately Eurovision is very political, you can guess which country the voters are going to give 12 points too just by looking at a simple map of Europe and a list of what unions they used to be in.

I think this just sums it up perfectly.
[video=youtube;YeJThMJbXz0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeJThMJbXz0[/video]

There was actually one year where Greece would have got nil points, but Cyprus gave them 12...

There is a lot animosity between countries, for example Azerbaijan and Armenia never vote for each other. Israel never votes for Germany, although Germany does vote for Israel. Surprisingly though, Serbia and Croatia who fought a bloody war in the 90's and still seem to have a lot of disputes today, don't mind voting for each other, but then that's probably due to the peoples of those countries dispersed, ie the great number of serbs in croatia etc, again due to politics.

Armenia did vote for Azerbaijan in 2009, giving them 1 point. Ironically it was when they were flashing the pictures of the monument. They also gave Turkey 4 points, which I found surprising given the dispute over the Armenian Genocide. Some of the votes are just messed up though. You have to wonder what would happen if Israel's Arab pals decide to enter (or in the case of Lebanon and Tunisia, actually turn up and not change their minds).

 

[Keldeo94]

I'm in one of the lesser favored countries
, boy do I know about the vote riggin, you don't need to lay it out in front of me.

Just curious which country is that? I think Uk has to be the least favoured.

and vuvuzela that video emphasizes the point perfectly

 

[Mitchman]

Greece of course.

 

[Keldeo94]

Greece of course.

Is that a joke? Or were you joking about being one of the least favoured?