EuroVisionary
Aug 23 2009

Questioned by the police after voting in the Eurovision Song Contest

Posted 23 August, 2009 – 17:49 by Charlotte Jensen

Neighbour points doesn’t exist between Azerbaijan and Armenia ` the
political fight between the two countries have resulted in Azerbaijani
police questioning people who voted for Armenia in the 2009 Eurovision
Song Contest. They are being classified as a potential security
threat.

BBC reports that 43 people in Azerbaijan voted for the Armenian song
Jan Jan performed by Inga and Anush at this year’s Eurovision Song
Contest held in Moscow, Russia. Those people are now being questioned
by the police who accuse them of being `unpatriotic and a potential
security threat’. Azerbaijani authorities confirm the questions, but
explain it as `People are being invited to explain why they voted for
Armenia’.

For EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, this is another step back in
their attempt to keep the Eurovision Song Contest free of
politics. Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the Contest,
haven’t had an easy year with Georgia being disqualified for a song
mugging the Russian president, Ukraine complaining that they were
forced by EBU to announce too high points to Russia, Azerbaijani TV
not showing the voting number for Armenia ` and now this. Svante
Stockselius does not want to comment on the police interrogations, but
says that they are investigating the situation.

The tensions between the two countries go 15 years back to the war
over the region Nagorno ` Karabakh. Despite an agreement less than a
year ago about working to find a political solution to the territory
fight civil right campaigners accuse the Azerbaijani government of
provoking Armenia into an increased fight. They also add that `freedom
of expression is increasingly suppressed in Azerbaijan under the
presidency of Ilham Aliyev’.