Armenia – Sadly Armenian Public Television today informed the EBU that Armenia has decided to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.”We are truly disappointed by the broadcaster’s decision to withdraw from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest,” said the Contest Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand on behalf of the EBU. “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 lead to this unfortunate decision.”
There had been much speculation for days with rumours that Armenia feared for the safety of their delegation and fans due to their strained relationship with Azerbaijan.
Only 42 countries will now compete in Baku. There will now be 18 acts in each Semi-Final.
Source – Eurovision.tv
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Am I the only one tune in for Russia? We had 14 going from average to detestable songs, but song 15 by Mari Karne is a ballad in Russian, sung by a stunningly hot looking black female with some of the BEST vocals all year! WOW! This one I loved… but I fear the extremely low quality of this NF song wise will offer an easy victory to Dima Bilan and Yulia.
But the Russian NF is quite well put together, i love the postcards and the hosting is fast and smooth.
As for Armenia, no big surprises, the surprise was that Armenia actually tried at first to participate. Sad, but maybe it’s for the best if as of today the two countries couldnt keep the politics out of esc.
and right now I like song 16 by Mark Tishman, simple, cute, different. maybe all the good songs are in the second half of the show, let’s see…
lol Dima & Yulia performed the Russian “Running scared”… I’m sorry but she’s bringing him down, she’s weaker vocally and charismatically… I could tell they really weren’t working well together but I guess both popularities combine and the efficiency of such song should make them a popular favorites
I watched too but commented on the other site because this place seemed deserted.
All in all, it was a very disappointing NF final, in particular compared to the fantastic 2010 NF. The only songs I liked were Ksenona, The Ups, Mari Karne and Syostry Syo (some horrible accents among them though …). I hope that the Grannies doing Village People won’t win!
well, i was here all by myself, I’ll comment on the thread for Russia to not go too much out of topic on Armenia…
OMG! Seems Russian representative will be “Buranovskie Babushki”…
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
Polina Smolova looks like a my mathematic teacher…
My favourite is Sestry Syo! Good Luck Russia!
sad news about Armenia.. Hi Morgan! how come Russia on this topic ??
On topic:
I am very sorry for the Armenian ESC fans and think that the dilemma we are in now once more proves that the EBU wasn’t wise to let those countries participate that (ab)use the contest in a political way (I am not naming names …). Anyway, the ARM-AZE situation is rather complicated and since I am no expert on this unfortunate matter, I do not know whether the Armenian withdrawal was necessary or not. All I know is that whoever is responsible for the situation acts contrary to everything ESC has always been about.
Off topic: If Russia reaches the final with that….God. Those grannies are just the thing we don’t need in our beloved ESC. I mean, seriously, they had better songs on offer, why choose that? Anyway, good luck Russia…
I totally agree: The grannies are very sweet and can sing but the song is just a silly mess, exactly the kind of stuff that gives ESC its bad reputation. And yes, I know that some fans love ESC for stuff like that. I don’t, I find it terribly embarrassing. 2/12
Sad for Armenia but it was to be expected imo.
Yeeehaaa! The Grannies won. Yes, you are right Togravus it is silly but still fun and sometimes a little bit of light heartedness can go along way. Russia 2013? I would say it’s quite possible.! Am delighted.
No chance of Russia 2013 imo, not if the juries vote like I expect them to do. GOOOO juries!
It’s sad that Armenia has withdrawn. I’ll miss them this year, but I’m confident we’ll see them next year.
i’m angry, why didn’t they withdraw from the beginning? letting azerbaijan draw them into a semi final, talking lies about ”we will find a winner for baku” and then they withdraw…more than childish, and again politics won over music, thanks armenia -.-”
i think you haven’t read anything about the reason, if you will be more informed about the fact that in recent days in the boarder of Armenia they kill a soldger with sniper, that is the problem that “how can Eurovision take place in the country were you can’t find even simple human rights “?
hahahahahahahaha… XD Armenian says about “human rights”… Goood, it’s end of the world.
We are killer of the soldiers? hehe… You’re really ridicilous and stupid. We never do it. NEVEEEEEEEEEER!
Thanx a lot for that you made me laugh…
Armenia 4ever!
I don’t think that the Eurovision will be uninteresting if Armenians don’t participate there. Armenian side showed its futility and insincerity. But there is a good side too. Henceforth we will not think about will Armenia participate or not. Finally, we will be able to concentrate on the contest. And Armenia will have to pay a fine for the EBU that they initially agreed and then refused.
Armenia called for “special security guarantees” and was provided with them by EBU and Azerbaijan. But then suddenly refused to participate. I think that they weren’t going to participate from the beginning, they just stringed everybody. In my opinion this is lack of respect from Armenian side to EBU and other participants.
so sad means will back one armenia stronger next year
http://xat.com/EUROVISIONPLACE
”Armenia withdraws from Eurovision in Azerbaijan even though incident that sparked outrage turns out not to be true”….Pretty interesting news to read… http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenia-stands-firm-eurovision-boycott
[...] Armenia: Withdraws from Eurovision 2012 (eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com) [...]
ESC schould only be for countries of the EU or Europe!