Monday 17 August 2009

Get Azerbaijan Out Of Eurovision

Just a little less than 20 years ago Armenia and Azerbaijan had a rather brutal little war which ended only in a ceasefire and created further territorial disputes. Since then relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense.

Fast forward to the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century and the end of the Cold War is becoming progressively more distant. The two republics are now part of one particularly unique European institution: The Eurovision Song Contest.

This year Azerbaijan gave Armenia a total of 0 points, meaning there were not enough votes for Armenia to make it into Azerbaijan's top 10 favourite songs from the contest. Despite this, it would seem the authorities there were not happy.

It has been revealed the authorities have gone through the voting records and have been "questioning" those who voted for their mortal enemy. I don't think there will be anything in the Eurovision rules regarding this. Mainly, I suspect, as no one thought any Government (yes even Belarus!) would be this paranoid about a song contest. But I think this goes against the very spirit of the contest and serves only to aid fuel to the neverending "political voting" fire.


I think the Eurovision authorities should act to protect the reputation of the contest as a way of bringing Europe together through music, and get Azerbaijan out!

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