AZERI OUT OF TUNE WITH EUROVISION VOTE FOR ARMENIA
By Lada Yevgrashina

Reuters
e/worldNews/idUSTRE57H41C20090818
Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:45am EDT

BAKU (Reuters) – An Azeri man said Tuesday he had been asked by
the authorities to explain why he voted for the entry of arch-rival
Armenia in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Forty-three Azeris voted for the song "Jan Jan" by Armenian duo Inga
and Anush in the May contest, despite lingering animosity between
Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians stemming from a war over the
mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.

A representative of Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry confirmed
voters were questioned, but declined further comment.

Rovshan Nasirli, a resident of the Azeri capital Baku, told Reuters
he was asked about his vote by authorities in the tightly-run Caucasus
state last week.

"The National Security Ministry summoned me and started asking why I
voted for the Armenian group, saying it’s surely unpatriotic," he said.

"The investigator said such behavior showed I’m easily recruited. I
explained that I simply voted for ‘Jan Jan’ because I liked the style,
not for political reasons."

Azerbaijan and Armenia remain intensely suspicious of each other 15
years after a ceasefire ended full hostilities between Azerbaijan
and Armenian-backed separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The region threw off Baku’s rule with the collapse of the Soviet Union
but a full peace deal has proved elusive. Azeri and ethnic Armenian
forces frequently exchange fire over a tense front line.

Rich in oil and gas, Azerbaijan is tightly controlled by President
Ilham Aliyev and is frequently criticized by human rights groups for
stifling free speech and democracy.

"Jan Jan" finished 10th in the 2009 Eurovision contest in Moscow,
seven places behind Azerbaijan’s entry "Always" by Aysel and Arash. The
winner was Norway’s "Fairytale" sung by Alexander Rybak.