Azerbaijan condemns Loreen's activist meeting
Published: 24 May 12 15:08 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/41022/20120524/
Hosts of the Eurovision song contest, Azerbaijan, has condemned the alleged "politicisation" of the glitzy song contest after Swedish entrant Loreen - hotly tipped as a possible winner - met with human rights activists on Wednesday.
- Loreen visits Azerbaijani women's shelter (19 May 12)
- Loreen takes home Melodifestivalen win (10 Mar 12)
According to daily Expressen, the meeting carried on without any problems but an article written by the Azerbaijani news agency APA claiming that Swedish ambassador Mikael Eriksson had told Loreen to make "political statements" from the Eurovison stage.
This has caused the senior presidential administration official Ali Hasanov to tell local media that the EBU should prevent such meetings with "anti-Azerbaijani" groups.
"The European Broadcasting Union must intervene in this issue and stop these politicised actions," Hasanov told Trend news agency.
However, the Swedish foreign ministry denies that the ambassador has told Loreen to make any statements.
"There is no substance to the rumour that the ambassador has asked Loreen to make any political statements," said Theo Zetterman at the ministry to Expressen.
The Azerbaijani authorities want to use Eurovision to win international acclaim for the energy-rich, mainly Muslim state of 9.2 million people.
But the pop contest has also drawn unprecedented attention to allegations that Aliyev's government jails opponents, persecutes journalists, cracks down on protests and suppresses free speech.
A small protest with around 100 opposition supporters in Baku was broken up by police Monday on the eve of the first Eurovision semi-final.
The second semi-final takes place later on Thursday, with the grand final on Saturday.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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I don't think that she's so genuinely concerned about human rights in Azerbaijan except promoting herself....
By the way, why she wouldn't care about human rights in her Morocco?
On the other hand, there is also the issue of pooping on the yard of a country that welcomes you. Like a football players would start negotiating with Basques in Spain or IRA in NI, just before a game in these countries. It is sort of weird and uncomfortable.
She does not agree with the human rights there? Totally correct. But visit the country outside the frame of Eurovision! That is MHO.
Human Rights Watch reports Azerbaijan to be a corrupt banana republic run by Ilham Aliyeva, a presidential despot similar in repulsiveness to Sasha Baron Cohen's fictional president. His police torture and imprison with impunity. Corruption, at every level of society, exists to funnel vast amounts of wealth to the President, and his reptilian family. Journalists and their families are particularly targeted and silenced with police beatings, murder and trumped up court cases, heard by corrupt judges.
The song contest was supposed to be an opportunity for President Aliyev to showcase what a good chap he is. In fact thousands of international journalists, sympathetic to their persecuted and silenced Azerbaijani colleagues, and some brave performers, like Loreen, have taken the opportunity to show the world how bad things actually are in Azerbaijan.
The President is angry and confused, poor chap. This was not how it was supposed to be at all. Enjoy the show everybody.
Thank you TheLocal for creating stereotypical images in our heads about Azerbaijan!
"Euphoria
Forever, 'till the end of time
From now on, only you and I
We're going up-up-up-up-up-up-up
Euphoria
An everlasting piece of art
A beating love within my heart
We're going up-up-up-up-up-up-up"
I think a four-year-old could have come up with something better than this crap.
Politics should stay out of this competition. She can campaign all she wants, but this is the Eurovision and frankly I find it annoying when some people mix the two things together.
Having said that, her "song" is so bad and she's so awful on stage that I am sure she will be the winner. Looks like Sweden is one of the few countries who could afford to host the Eurovision anyway.
Sorry folks, just my two cents.
I don´t feel that it can be good. But I think that Loreen should be more interested in Morocco, a complicated country for HUman Rights.
The Azerbaijani president, I. Aliyev, treated the musical win like a military triumph, describing it as "a victory for the people of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani state."! Isn't this pardon, retarded? Should i mention that 4 years in a row they buy all songs from Swedish composers? Well, reaching high positions with Swedish production, (while their own song from 2008 ESC hardly got to the top 10) and then call it "one of the greatest achievement of Azerbaijani culture" is just not sick, seriously.
The Eurovision contest is somehow shed light on the darkness.. this, i guess was the main purpose of this very, very "apolitical" contest... will it help? Not sure.