EBU – The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was arguably the most controversial edition in the contest’s history due to human rights and freedom of the press infringements in the host country Azerbaijan. The newspaper Dagens Nyheter and several websites now report, that Nordic countries and the United Kingdom have now pushed for new ethics for the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the contest.
The new rules apparently contain, all the competing countries in the Eurovision Song Contest must be democratic, and that dictatorships can not participate.
The details were presented at a meeting attended by representatives of the public service companies of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
In addition to the Nordic countries the United Kingdom and Austria also pushed for an ethical sharpening of the rules. The EBU will allegedly have the right to exclude existing members or prevent them from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The new rules, which according to the newspaper were formally adopted at the EBU conference in Strasbourg in late June, highlights the basic requirements of democratic rights that need to be respected by a participating country.
These new rules may affect Belarus as well as this year’s host country Azerbaijan. Other countries that come to mind are Putin’s Russia and the Ukraine, which has come under fire for arresting former prime minister Julia Timoschenko. What do you think?
If we speaking about human rights then we should mention Armenia firs of all. The president of Armenia Serg Sarkisyan is a war criminal and guilt in organising ethnic cleancing and massacres of Azerbaijani civilian population in Nakgorniy Karabakh conflict. The most horrifying example is complete destruction of town Khojaly where during 4 hours 613 civilian including 83 children were killed. I believe that it is much more sever violation of human rights than dictatorship and president of Armenia should be in the same cell with Miloshevich, Vladich and Karajich.
Ok so human right in armenia are also a problem. But you are most likely pointing this out cause your probably from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and Armenia are as bad as each other, both homophobic backward non european countries
America is not in the Eurovision!!!!
Can you post the link to the “Dagens Nyheter” article that you refer to in your post – Thanks
@eurovisionireland
This is the original article:
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/musik/diktaturerna-ska-ut-ur-schlager-em
Radio Sweden’s article:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=5129674
I think they might as well exclude all countries and cancel the show.
@eurovisionireland: an interview with Eva Hamilton, the head of Sveriges Television, on the same topic (in Swedish):
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/musik/demokratikrav-pa-nasta-schlager-em
Azerbaijan had a moral right and legitimate right given by International law to not even allow Armenia to participate due to the internationally recognised aggression and 1 million internally displaced people who are yet to return to their homes in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan (Armenia happily ignores and as can be seen from this blog, even get’s Europe’s supoprt all international resolutions demanding this: 4 UN, 2 EU, several other). Instead and as always, out of natural civility and humanity so typical for Azeris and not typical to Armenians, Azerbaijan said:”OK they can come and we will ensure their security”. A big gesture we did that Armenians could not tolerate so they invented this incident on the border to pull out and they were so pathetic in doing this as it was later proven that the Armenian soldier was not killed by an Azeri sniper but another Armenian soldier in a “friendly fire”! That security was guranteed was confirmed several times by EBU. The reason Azerbiajan has certain limitation in freedoms (but they surealy are not as bad as portayed in the West) is Armenian aggression and the threat of Islamic fundemantalism from Iran and Al Qaeda. Trying to maintain security and stability in the country the government have courageously chosen, at expense of being called undemocratic, to limit certain freedoms and establich security and prosperity for its people (and Europe) by investing the oil money wisely into the ecomony, infrastructure, social protection and development, using Norwegian model. Unfortunately, average Europeans were not informed about the ecenomic and social developments in Azerbaijan correctly and they don’t know the truth behind all these reports and publications about the lack of freedoms and democracy in Azerbaijan. They don’t understand that there are 3 powers interested in portraying Azerbaijan in such tarnished image: 1 power-hungry incompetentt opposition in Azerbaijan and youngsters who support them out of lack of understadning of the complex situation the goivernemtn is handling but which have no support of the majority of the Azeri population so they hope Europe will bring them to power, 2 mullocratic Iran and most importantly, 3 agressor Armenia, who using their traditional networks and ties in European media (the main human rights activist in EC who was commissioned with preparing reports on political prosoners and he chose Azerbaijan as the main target incidentally and curiosuly enough has many personal Armenian friends – a well known fact!). Armenian diaspora in Europe is, using them, trying to portay Azerbaijan as non democratic, to justify the occupation. Altough Armenia itself is a far cry from any democracy and is number one violator of not only Azeris’ but also Armenians’ rights by maintaining agression and occupation instead of concentrating on developing the country’s economy which is only possible if they release the Azeri lands as always Armenia economically depended on Azerbaijan, the recent elections in Armenia were such masterpiece of falsification that even European (but not all) observers thought they were democratic, not realising how thee have been criticised as a total fiasco of democracy and opportunity for any prosperity inside Armenia itslef! These power have varying end puposes but their interim purpose – to discredite Azerbaijan is what unites them. So, basically by supportng this notions against Azerbaijan, Europeans simply support the mullocratic Iran and aggressor Armenia which which I woudl like to wholheartedly congratulate all Europeans with!
Amidst this chaos, USA State Secretary H. Clinton who is visiting Azerbaijan in June said: In this period of Azerbaijan’s people celabrating the Republic Day (28th May, 1918) I want Azerbaijan to know that USA FULLY supports you! Only USA know what threat we prevent for Europe by maintianing strict security in the country and why! USA is now going to help Azeri Special Security forces to re-equip completely, to ensure Azerbaijan is able to continue maintaining the security in Azerbaijan and the region against Iran and Al Qaeda supoprters Wahhabis in Southern Russia (Chechnya and Daghestan). Azerbaijan has sacrified it;s democracy for the world security and still is able to develop fantastically by using the oil money wisely and fairly, by this also providing Europe with financial stability and hope for future at it’s borders! Europe, don’t bash Azerbaijan, support it and make Armenia leave the occupied lands and then the democracy that Azeri people and goverment are capable of will florish!
And the last – Aliev’s money is his personal (his father in law is billionnarie businessman Pashaev and his daughter’s father in law is another billionnarie Agalarov) , not oil money of people – IMF fully monitors Azeri oil revenues and expendutures and has declared Azerbaijan as one of the most transparent oil producing countries in the world, ahead of the USA! if tehre were any money dissapearing IMF woudl know!
If this rule goes through (which I doubt) Armenia MUST be excluded as well as the main reason for lack of democracy not only in Amrenia but also in Azerbaijan and the whole region! Justice and peace to you all!
The Australian guys from Joyeurovision are really pissed at the final’s interval act. Finally, someone has the guts to call a spade a spade. Definitely worth listening too:
http://joyeurovision.podomatic.com/entry/2012-05-30T16_53_10-07_00
And here is a very interesting interview from the same site:
http://joyeurovision.podomatic.com/entry/2012-05-30T21_30_31-07_00
You Are political troll, togravus!!! :@
No, I am a guy believing in democracy and humanist ethics, and I will always fight for them. And sorry but I guess that it has to be said once at least: everyone who defends the way Azerbaijan did ESC this year is not a friend of democracy, freedom and human rights. As easy as that!
No pasarán!
That you get thumbs down for supporting democracy and humanist ethics says a lot about the integrity of those loving to hide in the shadows and using the thumbs. Silly cowards, thugs and yobbos …
You are poor!
Azerbaijan did it in a unique way… and tried to teach Europe something it didn’t know… And, what do you know about Azerbaijan to judge? Have you personally visited the country (and not only Baku) or your opinion is based on others’ opinion which is largely wrong…???
One sad person voted this down…Afraid, there will be more… Seems I cannot get through to you, guys… well well well. if I didn’t know many other Europeans and didn’s know about the reaciton and attitude of your official governments (who know much more than average citizens), and of more informed people (analysts, high quality professional journalists etc.) I would be upset. But here it just shows that Eurovision fans are simply not too good at correctly analysing a political situation, in an unbiased and pragmtic way that is required and finding own conclusions, forming own opinions (pls no offense here, I understand music and politics don’t gel well) . Instead emotions take over and hysteria ensues… In no way I think this attitude is representative of democratic principles and values. Democracy is also about presumption of innocense until proven quilty – Azerbaijan was not proven quilty and all to date is based on some silly wikileaks, emotional allegations and poor research. Time only will show. Azerbaijan can wait – we are used to waiting for justice anyway -for hundreds of years, In the meantime, face the fact that EBU will not adopt any rule that will exclude Azerbaijan from the contest and as we are somehow are able to gain good places since we entered, do not be surprised if in the near future ESC will be held in Azerbaijan again (by that time maybe we may as well be only ones who can afford it anyway!).And those who are saying votes were rigged by Azerbaijan to get high points all these years are simply paranoid people who think Azerbaijan is really that almighty… Next time there will be less “paphos” which we presented this year thanks to our eastern influences. Azerbaijan will never be like North Europe, more (and is) like Souhtern Europe, so expect a bit more glitter, show off and emotions
They are right about the interval act.It was bad!The last great interval act we’ve seen was the Oslo one!But about the voting part,they more or less sound like may U.K fans.Poor North-Western Europe!Hello?A north western country won.And Anggun’s performance was amazing?Seriously?
Most people thought it was good. He is a good singer, very popular in Russia and Azerbaijan, now emerging in the UK. what exactly was bad? The show, the song, his singing or everything together or maybe the fact he was related to the President or maybe kissing the flag? If the latter, not sure why the guys from joyeurovision found it nationalistic – since when being patriotic is mistaken for nationalism? Why overreact so much? Such comments (form joyeruovision) only reflect the world’s ignorance about Azerbaijan and prove the point why Azerbaijan had to do what it did – show it to the world in such detail and with such passion. Do not judge too hard for that, try to understand. Easiest is to criticise and to judge, isn’t it!? And I’m just taken aback as an Azeri who learn about other cultures and respect and love them very much to see such resistance of some Europeans to learn about something new and try to like it!, to understand something which is a bit different from the usual European stuff people are used to. Azeri know everything about European countries, the culture, the history, the current situation and if not try to learn. This is why we though it wows be interesting for Europe to learn about Azerbaijan… Well, we may have been wrong. Probably Europeans are not as eager to learn and not so curious???
These guys have no clue. Just have no clue what Azerbaijan has gone through in the last 20 years (or actually from 1823 onwards after becoming part of Russian Empire) and still does and why this guy kissed the flag! From one end I’m not at all surprised at their reactions but what upsets me is that before thy decide to criticise they could have tried to study the situation in Azerbaijan and around Azerbaijan and (although I know it’s asking for too much the last 5000 years of history maybe, last 1000 of which were the most dramatic and intense with the last 300 years being just outwardly destructive for the Azerbaijan as the nation, thanks to misinformed Russians and their Armenian masterminds who were inevitably behind all horrible historic falsifications and numerous continuous ethnic cleansing of Azeris by Armenians. Just one example – Yerevan – the capital of modern Armenia was created in 1918 on Azeri lands. Azerbaijan had to give the lands away as a bargain to save the rest of the country! Official documents exist…)
Also who this guy is and why he sang although the President’s SIL. EBU “allowed” these things because they understood Azerbaijan’s situ while there, how genuine and not wicked Azeris are in their intentions so this must have changed some perceptions for them although under pressure of BBC reported EBU rep did say that a President’S SIL performing maybe was a bit too much. But for Azeris it was quite OK although we expected such reactions (and cringed at the idea of them) but still did not care as we have gone through so much misunderstanding and misinformation that this one is just such a minor thing which will not make much difference anyway!) We don’t have much to show yet and this guy who writes and composes himself and in English could not be discriminated only because he was President’s SIL. If we had other’s like him, they would have gone forward not him… All the rest had no relation to the President… Anyway, I can go on for hours here but `i will spare you all…
Azeris are the least nationalist people or used to be until the world’s injustice turned humble Azeris into slight nationalists and that “nationalism” shows only at this sorts of events and sport events! Kissing the flag was addressed to Armenians who occupy 20% of historic and legitimately Azeri lands and keep 1 million people homeless, nobody else. Armenia illegally occupying our lands is not aggressive act, kissing a flag is???!!! Where’s justice here???
Azerbaijan getting into top 5 – tastes differ. Seems in the US and Australia the style Sabina performed with is not well know or understood. Being away from their historical roots, Americans and Australians surely would not appreciate such music.
Azerbaijan’s capital was not the only town under more that usually intense refurbishment. They maybe happy to find out that after the ESC, the works continued all over the country as there is a plan to rebuild the country from Soviet ruins and ugliness which started 5-6 years ago and continues after the event but it’s try that for the ESC things were slightly accelerated.
Anyway, I’m sure their option is not going to change the world’s opinion about the event and Azerbaijan. I can imagine in the future things will happen that will make all today’s Azerbaijan’s criticisers to gasp and say – oh, that’s why, now I understand and take hats off for Azerbaijan!
So they want the punish the poor people in these countries who are already suffering from their government? very clever. Typical western agenda. I say let them participate if they are allowed in Sport events – why not Eurovision? ridiculous. Honestly these ‘Nordic Countries’ are such bulshit, double standard idiots. They should look firstly to their own problems and back yard before trying to ‘fix’ others. Disgusting.
Theres very few problems in our “Civilised” western countries,and when there is there are only minor and dont occur as frequently in comparision to some of the brutal acts that are carried out by ploice in azerbiajan, at least in the UK if we dont like what our goverment do we can protest without the risk of been beaten, being in prisioned or risk death. At least our “Civilised ” “Democratic” countries have freedom or speach and dont violate human rights! What happend this year in Azerbiajan during the hosting just renforces the need to put this rule in place!
Tear gas and water hosing in Canada against students, brutally stopping, beating to blood green protesters in Frankfurt a months ago who decided to march form outskirts of FRA to the centre and were BRUTALLy stopped by police as it was not sanctioned, England’s dismay and inability to control the yobs in the streets and complaining in news that there aren’t enough police force to control such crowds, the protests in Greece, Basque lands, I can continue the list to remind you that what you have seen about Azerbaijan is not different from any other country trying to protect stability (especially when it’s so fragile and gained at high cost). When protesters decide to march right in the middle of the city (creating chaos), unauthorised when they were offered a place for their demonstration in placed where ppl can get to by public transport easily and will be away from the busy city centre police will stop them. I’m not saying such situations were handled very well… They wee handled in Soviet style the earlier ones did. Since then the government requested (!) OSCE to train the police forces how to manage such protests in a more “democratic, European” way which they did and you should have noticed the difference which is by the way, not because of the ESC and Europe watching but will continue from now on in this style – just watch and see. But pls read my longest post here (I apologise for it) to understand why at all our police is stopping these marches…Surely when they turn aggressive, violent and destructive or when ignoring the request of the government to stop as they are having them in unsanctioned places…Anyway. Pls don’t get me wrong – there is still very long way for democracy (and to fight corruption which after the occupation is number 2 biggest problem) in Azerbaijan but every election is marked as improvement on the previous one and every day draws us closer to the democracy as far as it can be afforded in our troubled region! Processes curl be faster if not for the reasons I listed in my other post here. Help us to accelerate this process by getting Armenia into withdrawing for the occupied lands. Azerbaijan will guarantee security and equal rights for the Armenian citizens as well, so no worries there.
Very well said! At last a sensible opinion. You are absolutely right about the nordic countries and the double standards. Such hypocricy makes me sick. It is only a song contest!
eh what are these problems you mention in Nordic countries. I doubt you could point any out.
demographic crisis (ageing population), xenophobia, ethnic tension, alcoholism, fall of morals, lots of lonely old people (kids to busy to care), no respect for adults and little taking care of parents (instead you dump them in old people’s houses quite happily), very high taxes, people turned into robots to earn money for life, stressed, rushed, hassled, relax only with alcohol and riot, neo-nazism (i’m all for keeping non-integrating people out and blood pure but first letting ppl in, giving them freedoms and then suddenly realising your own culture is under threat of disappearance so you start hating the “alines” to me is a crisis) etc. etc… Azerbaijan has none of these problems
))
Eurovision sucks !
maybe a (very loose one it has to said!) compromise would be that all countries could actually compete in the contest, but those on the “human rights blacklist” wouldn’t actually be allowed to host the following competition until they got their act together, as hosting the show seems to be quite important maybe it would give certain countries food for thought…just a thought..
Exactly, Maybe instead of kicking them out altogether it may be fairer just to say they can’t host it if they win, and for the EBU to lay down strict requirments such as ethics for any host country, I supose they aren’t doing any harm just participating, its just when hsting seems to be the problem, and if the country voilates human rights then the right to host goes to the second placed country. Think the only major countries we would have issues with are Azerbiajan, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine rather than Russia, Russia in 2009 did go ahead with a gay parade didnt they after a little dispute at first, and appart from that they hosted well, they didnt have Putin controlling the whole event compared to the president in azerbiajan, who got his own son in law to sing during the interval, and have his own wife organising the event.
I totally agree, the crappy interval act of the presiden’t son-in-law was kind of the icing on the cake, why should host countries be given the right to do that in 2012 for god’s sake!!, on the other hand some may argue re; nepotism, that Stefaan Raab “singing and presenting last year” is also an example of a kind of euro dictatorship, …..just a thought, different kind of dictatorship styles…
Russia being heir of the USSR had all the experience for holding such events, the technology, the technical base etc. Baku being a provincial capital in the USSR had no chance in the USSR to gain such experience, any major event were controlled by Russians to prevent us from gaining any experience (in case we get too confident and brake off). In Azerbaijan only Alievs who worked and studied in Russia (dad – ex KGB general, Member of Politburo for a decade), current president studied in MGIMO – where he gained the knowledge of managing politics and international affairs through studying and lecturing there are the only ones in Azerbaijan (and his wife who is the President of Charity organisation Heydar Aliev Fund (ex prsident’s gift to the nation) who uses the money of the fund in addition to building and restoring museums, hospitals, nurseries, schools, parks, art galleries in Azerbaijan (not only in Baku) etc., also sponsors many charitable events in Europe including reconstruction of parks and museums, building monuments in Rome, Serbia, Slovakia, etc) are really the only people in the country who could organise this – you guy who have no clue of the post USSR and Azerbaijan’s reality may find it hard to believe but it is so – our people need lots more time to learn, gain the necessary experience and these ppl have it so they apply it for promoting such things in Azerbaijan – whats wring with it? Soon you will all be reading in your media about the REAL Azerbaijan not the pile of rubbish which was published recently You will be amazed what the reality is… And maybe even understand why certain things are done in certain way in Azerbaijan..if you can overcome your xenophobia ) re Emin – he is a rising star in the post USSR countries and really loved. he is one of a kind in Azerbaijan and he became popular BEFORE he married the President’s daughter so he is SINGER and composer first, then his Son in law! Re gay parade in Azerbaijan – after Azerbaijan becomes member of NATO maybe we will be able to have such control at the borders that without being afraid of Iran we will do what we feel like and have gay parades if so will be required…
Oh come on people are you kidding me? this is not about wwhich country occupied which or how many people killed each of them, its much wider its about all those people forcedly moved to build the arena, freedom of press democratic quality of the institutions etc etc not just about one country preventing other from participating. nobody said Armenia woulndt be affected by this, this is made for no country in particular, but general. when my contry won eurovision we were not a democracy (spain) and i admit itd havw been good not to let us participate. This meassure is the best
Let’s be honest “politics” has always been a part of ESC, but years ago eg Spain etc the idea that Spain wouldn’t host the contest the following year was never on the minds of EBU dignitaries etc, but with instant information at our fingertips, websites, associations, and indeed the economic crisis times have changed…people are more aware about what happens in certain countries, people have the right to comment and countries have the right (eg Nordic ones) to be pissed off about the way their journalists etc are treated in a so-called “ESC host country”, that’s at least one advantage: with the spotlight on Azerbaijan, that opened up a whole global inquisition on what Azerbaijan regime really means and if that does some good in the world then I support it!! I only feel sorry for the guy in the 1964 contest in Copenhagen who disguised himself as a stagehand, and ran on stage with his banner “Boycott Franco and Salazar”..what a shame we will never be able to see him! I hope he is still out there somewhere fighting for democracy and basic human rights!!
No, I’m not kidding you or anyone.. I expected somebody saying this… These “forced evictions” is such a set up… these ppl were warned 2 years in advance because where their building was is a landslide zone and any tall building built their were built in Soviet times by ppl who did not care. The government waited while they could, sending 6 monthly reminders and offering EUR1500 for the square metre of their flats as compensation. Mind you this compensation is quite generous keeping in mind that no new apartment buildings could be built there due to the landslide problem so it would not have higher market price despite the waterfront view. With the money they could buy a proper flat in a sleeping district of Baku. Not the best option but unfortunately the influx of money to Baku made property a bit pricy. My place is very central, in a new building, with all amenities and infrastructure, beautiful sea and city view and it costs Eur 1200 per square metre should I sell it. Not sure why these ppl complained They simply became victims of so called opposition groups who are not quite sure what they want and have nothing sensible on offer to ppl but tell them hey – we need some publicity and as we know the whole Europe is watching, be dumb enough to listen to us and believe that you could actually get more money for your dilapidated rubbish and behave hysterically for the TV, so that we could tell that you are victimised and we get Europe’s support and come to power to fill our pockets, start the war with Armenia, declare nationalism as the state ideology (as opposed to the current government’s ideology of multiculturalism and tolerate) and some maybe even better, turn the country into an islamic one… So they believed and did what they did, the foreign media who somehow are allowed to film anything in Azerbaijan filmed it, perverted the info as they were misinformed and the whole Europe believed!
Where are my coments? I didn’t hurt anyone by saying that I like new rules? I guess, this site won’t become my new place “to stay”. It’s as democratic as Azerbaijan. Sorry!
Everything here which is against opinion of moderator is deleted!
Thats not fair though there should be freedom of speach! If this site was run by someone from a western country then we would be permitted to post what we liked. Isn’t fair comments which may be rightly true are censored to please eastern countries where this happens everyday! NOT FAIR AT ALL!
(mental note) to moderator, how can I work out where my reply goes, to whom, and who sees it? don’t worry, not here very often so no big deal…like your site though…
aaaaaaaaahhh! am off to another site,,,(probably non esc one), this one starting to get on my nerves a bit re comments /posting them…sorry
not your fault but..
One minor clarification regarding the DN article: there is no mention of either Belarus, the Ukraine or Russia. The only countries currently considered for exclusion from the EU and/or the ESC are Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.
these three countries are not in EU anyway. And now to me it looks like Europe trying to ban not so european countries for the contest. is democracy really behind the decision or maybe…racism? Mind you, ironically these 3 countries being in Caucasus and the whole white race (including arabs) called Caucasians and Caucasus being ancestral to most of the European population (as one of the cradle os mankind) is not being abolished by the off-sring – Europe… i do hoe it IS about democracy and this makes it a bit farer to see al 3 countries in the list however, from the other side, not sure if it will help! In contrary, this may just be the death sentence to democracy in this countries as they loose their trust in Europe… Well, well, well…Europe is in crisis…
Clarification #2: the Nordic countries aren’t the only ones behind these new ethical rules; EBU representatives for the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria were also involved in the conference.
This year’s song contest was carried out at a very high level! Well done Azerbaijan! It will be a great challenge to match this for Sweden and indeed any other participating country. Perhaps this has caused some jealousy around? Or perhaps armenians are working hard in blackmailing Azerbaijan? There were protests in London with regards to Olympic village, there were other protests in the UK with regards to many other issues and not necessarily adressed by the British government. Perhaps then Britain should be out of the contest too? Or maybe every country? Do you really beleive there is 100% democracy anywhere in this world?! I don’t!
U Must b joking rite the uk is one of the main countries to contribute highly to the Eurovision! U no Eurovision is ment to b about the singing no political shit and which country likes who , people should have a freedom to say wot they like but I disagree that Eurovision should be about war ? Eurovision surely should b pulling all the euro countries together no bloody arguing
I think it will only punish the singers and performers if they are not included. For many in Belarus for example, it is a Euro lifeline to display their culture and talents. They are just like us and many do not agree with politics. It’s aboput music. This type of exclusion was also tried for the Olympics. I think they should all participate but the winning entry should not automatically guarantee their country’s right to host the show. That should be decided by the Eurovision committee with regard to safety and security of all participants. Besides I still feel that it is wrong for any nation to disrespect another nation’s culture while in the host country. It is arrogant to do so. And the show itself was great in Az – wonderful!
I cannot speak about other countries like Austria, but the UK should keep quiet about human rights. Their record of double standards is famous.They never thought baout human rights of civilians they bombed in Iraq or Afganistan. They don’t think about human rights of the UK people affected by the criminals that for some reason cannot be deported. And suddenly they are concerned about Azerbaijan? They should first sort out their own problems…
This article denies the rumored proposals: http://www.rferl.org/content/ebu-eurovision-poor-human-rights-records/24599413.html
thanks God for that! it would be a very wrong decision anyway. Only if kept included countries not up to the Western level of democracy will be able to improve!
For those who understand German this is worth reading. German bloggers were arrested because they took pictures of the beach and an derelict industrial area in Sumgait. They only published this today because they were afraid to do so as long as one of their bloggers was still in Azerbaijan:
http://blog.prinz.de/grand-prix/verhaftet-und-verhort-was-prinz-bloggern-in-aserbaidschan-widerfuhr/
were they taking pictures of military installations? You know Sumgait is a city with special status. There are a few military airports and other installations there.. Just saying! If our security service were not so careful, terrorism would have taken over Azerbaijan, wrapped it into shreds and you would have another Chechnya, Dagestan if not worse…
[...] Parece que los organizadores de Eurovisión han decidido tomar cartas en el asunto y cambiar las reglas sobre la participación en el evento musical televisivo de nuestro continente: países que no sean democráticos o que vivan bajo una dictadura serán totalmente vetados de participar. [...]
A bit of European-Azeri “bridging” through music, if I may… One day Europe will need to get over xenophobia and embrace Caucasus
)
Nikki Jamal’s new video
Nikki with a famous Azeri singer Miri Yusif
(Nikki also released a single with Dima Bilan “Obnimi Menya”)
Safura
some Azeri hip-hop/rap
EMIN
Don’t judge too hard – it’s not typical to what you are used to – please be open minded…
I think Azerbaijan has has alot more to get over than Most of Europe. Such as homophobia and corruption.
Agree about corruption and a lot of serious work is getting done to combat it or minimise it as I doubt it will be eliminated – has it been eliminated in most other European countries? – no! Switching to total e-goverment, on-line payment of communal fees, licences, taxes and registering businesses etc. System of appeals (24/7 hotline to call about vialotions and reports in news about cases of curruption busted as the result of calls to this hotline) etc… Government is trying but it’s gonna take many years as all levels of society are permiated with this evil and unless the population supports government’s efforts and change their ways as well ingrained in their habits and mentality, style of worki and treating obstacles, it will not be succesful. Building a democratic transparent society takes generations especially after 80 years of Russian Empire and 70 years of USSR.
Re homophobia – it’s not that bad at all. In our today’s news on day.az we have that our gay pop singer Samir Bagirov is about to return back after a long break to the stage after combatting depression – this is in our news headlines, his fans are awaiting…(go see – you will see picture of an obviously gay guy and do a google translate for the text) . This is just one example. Gays are free and safe in our ocuntry but cannot see it possible for legalisation of gay marriages and allowing gay parades – Iran will bomb us if we do! Our own peolle who are more traditional will rebel. Such legislation although fine with the majority will surely cause a lot of geopolitcal and religious fricition. Democratic liberal people in Azerbaijan who are the majority are OK with gays but some traditionalists’ acts make it seem as if the whole society is homophobic. I personally have gay friends. Another thing that cast shadow on our tolerance for homosexuals are few past police raids on gay prostitutes in the streets and brothels – any sort of prostitution is not legal in Azerbaijan and is caught when taken into streets or too obvious so this should not be taken as something against gays – this is against all street prostitutes.
Thanks for providing the articles. It will be an interesting read.
I think that from my experience in Baku to summise- I fould is amazing. The people were so friendly – from people in the press centre but to the average person on the street – who despite having little English were so willing to help. All countries when they find new Independence go through a transition stage – we did in Ireland following 1916.
Just an observation
Thank you! We just need time and to resolve the territorial problem and then we can plunge into building democracy faster, We are still in transition but committed!
Hillary Clinton in Baku now… She said USA supports young democratic Azerbaijan on it’s way to democratisation and can see how committed Azerbaijan is. Also she advised the NGOs who are working on human rights, transparency etc to assist with building the country and not be destructive (hint, hint). She also recognised the complex geopolitical situation in the region and supports us in our situation and how we handle it… Supports our choice of anti-terrorism, stability, security, partnership to provide energy security to Europe, secularity, integration with Europe, democratisation, diversification of economy and most importantly for us at the moment – FULL SUPPORT for Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia and personal commitment to resolve it peacefully ASAP… Head of EU also planned to visit the country… European journalists (also from Germany) visiting the country and going into regions way beyond Baku say the info in western media is absolutely wrong, out of context, written by those who never been to the country or beyond Baku and they will ensure to bring the truth to the audience in Europe how they witnessed it in Azerbaijan. That the articles that Azerbaijan failed to use oil money for people, diversify it’s economy from oil and gas and failed to developed the country beyond Baku’s central streets is TOTAL nonsense and LIE. Just wait and see. I invite you all to Azerbaijan! Better to see with own eyes, hear with own ears