The first semifinal of “Eurovision 2012” song contest will take place today, on May 22 in Baku Crystal Hall. Yesterday the opening ceremony of the contest took place.
According to the “Eurovision 2012” song-contest the international consideration is concentrated on Azerbaijan and it is sometimes unwanted consideration. Terrible situation of the human rights, jailed journalists, pressed opposition members in Azerbaijan are now discussed by the world media. Some international organizations called on to boycott the contest in Baku. Belgian journalists who were in Baku with the “Eurovision” delegation were beaten some days ago and they left Azerbaijan. But anyway, it is taking place.
“Up to a year ago, Azerbaijan, an oil-and-gas powerhouse about the size of the state of Maine, was a little-known former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea just north of Iran. Soon, however, the eyes of more a half billion people will be watching live as it hosts the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. But Azerbaijan is finding out it can’t hide behind its billions and official statements against Western critics about alleged violence and harassment against Azeri journalists and opponents of President Ilham Aliyev”, Jeff Burbank writes on huffingtonpost.com web-site.
Referring to the problems which the “Eurovision 2012” brought with it the author continues: “Azerbaijan‘s leaders did not take the opportunity lightly. The country is reportedly spending an estimated $ 1 billion to prepare for the Eurovision broadcast from Baku, May 22-26. It’s put the finishing touches on a 23,000-seat stadium, Baku Crystal Hall, which it started planning on the Caspian shore weeks after last year’s victory”. Note that many people stayed without houses as their apartments were destroyed in order to build the complex for the contest.
Besides financial issues there are some other problems as well. “But it’s also meant that Azerbaijan — freed from the former USSR in 1991 but retaining a Soviet-style authoritarianism — would face unprecedented scrutiny into its alleged severe campaigns of repression against journalists, opposition leaders and ordinary citizens who speak out about President Aliyev and his government.
The Aliyev regime has been openly hostile to the news media and his political opponents in the years since he took power following the death of his father, Heydar, the former KGB-head of Azerbaijan, in 2003. As Azerbaijan‘s energy riches and international influence have increased, so have accusations of ruthless treatment of journalists.
In 2005, in a still-unsolved murder, someone fired eight shots from a pistol with a silencer and killed investigative reporter Elmar Huseynov, who had written articles on alleged corruption among Azerbaijani officials and Aliyev’s wealthy family members. Human Rights House has accused the government of being responsible for offenses against more than 50 journalists who were harassed or attacked in 2011”, the author writes.
Continuing the theme of the media and speech freedom violations, the article says: “In recent weeks leading to Eurovision, criticism has mounted from Europe about Azerbaijan‘s alleged actions against news writers that include some nasty smear campaigns. The German magazine Der Spiegel wrote about a female journalist who was taped having sex with her boyfriend at her home by a hidden camera installed in her home. The tape was played on the Internet in March. The incident was similar to secret sex videos made of an opposition newspaper editor in 2010 and two opposition activists in May 2011, all of which were broadcast on Azerbaijani TV stations.
Early month, two European officials, both German, called for a boycott of Eurovision in protest of Azerbaijan, which is a member of the Council of Europe. Azerbaijan‘s government reacted by fighting back. It denied one official a visa to enter the country”.
“Eurovision 2012 will come and go, a new winning country crowned. But unfortunately — aside from economically, and mostly for Baku‘s top elites — little will change for freedom-seeking Azerbaijanis for the foreseeable future”, the author concludes.
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