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Ismayil Omarov: â€œThe performance of Armeniaâ€™s representative on Baku stage could be a joint peace message to the worldâ€- EXCLUSÄ°VE - Ä°NTERVÄ°EW

12 March 2012 16:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ulkar Rashidgizi-APA. An exclusive interview of Ismayil Omarov, General Director of Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company of Azerbaijan

- The Public Broadcaster of Armenia officially withdrew from participating in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. Can you comment this decision?

- Each country makes its own decision on the participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. For instance, Poland also announced its withdrawal from this yearâ€™s contest and justified it with the preparation to host the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. Armenia first confirmed its participation and later announced its withdrawal putting forward a number of groundless, and even contradictory, arguments and politicizing the issue. In my view, it would have been better if Armenia had made a more objective assessment of the situation and joined this huge cultural project. Unfortunately, the people and organizations behind Eurovision in Armenia decided to make a â€œshowâ€ out of their non-participation instead of putting their efforts to design a real show at the Baku stage.

- The Public Television of Armenia made a statement on the 8th of March about their withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest connecting this decision with a recent speech by President Ilham Aliyev. According to the Armenian side, the President of Azerbaijan called all Armenians of the world â€œenemies of the Azerbaijani peopleâ€. To what extent does this interpretation correspond to reality?

- First of all, President Ilham Aliyev has never called the Armenian people an enemy. It is the government of Armenia and certain individuals, not the Armenian people as a whole, who are responsible for the occupation of our land and the mass murder of Azerbaijanis in the occupied territories. The President has made this on many occasions.

Before the announcement of the Public Television of Armenia, on February 24 the Armenian press spread a declaration on behalf of a group of performers who explained their withdrawal from the Baku contest as protest against the killing of an Armenian soldier on the frontline on February 23.

After this statement, the Ministry of Defence of Armenia announced that the deceased soldier Albert Adibekyan was killed not by an Azerbaijani sniper, as it had been claimed, but by his own fellow-soldier Iqnat Eqibaryan. When this reason became useless, Armenia made another groundless claim. By the way, the official declaration of Armeniaâ€™s Public Television of the7th of March came out on the same day as the article published in New York Times, which stated that Armenia would not participate in the contest because of the frontline accident. As you can see the information sent by the Armenian side to local and international media is groundless and is refuted by Armeniaâ€™s own official sources.

- Armenia together with all other countries confirmed their participation in accordance with the rules in January. So why was this decision changed?

- According to the rules of the contest, Azerbaijan has officially presented a guarantee letter to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) assuring the safety of the contestants. This is a very serious document. Undoubtedly, all participating countries including Armenia were informed. At the same time, all related media enquiries to the organizers have always been rapidly answered with the emphasis that equal conditions would be created for all countries. Therefore, they can use this as a reason to withdraw from the contest.

I would like to mention that the preparation for the Baku show including all the security measures have been praised by the EBU. The Contest Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand on behalf of the EBU said: "Despite the efforts of the EBU and the Host Broadcaster to ensure a smooth participation for the Armenian delegation in this year’s Contest, circumstances beyond our control lead to this unfortunate decision". The fact that the participation was first confirmed and later declined shows this was not a decision of the broadcaster but a political decision.

- What stands behind Armeniaâ€™s confusing actions?

- All the processes observed demonstrate that they manipulated the relations with the EBU and the host country having made the decision on withdrawal long before. Unlike other countries, Armenia was not preparing for the contest. The head of Armenian delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest Qoar Qasparyan said in January 2012 that they had not decided on who and how would select the Armenian representative. It means that Armenia had already dedicated not to participate in Eurovision 2012. They were simply looking for an excuse. In order to camouflage its intention of non- participation in the Eurovision 2012, Armenia officially applied to the EBU but was constantly looking for an excuse to withdraw and politicize the issue. It is a pity that in spite of all the created conditions Armenia still refused to participate in the contest and tried to shift the responsibility on to the Azerbaijani side.

- Armeniaâ€™s Public Broadcaster mixes a music contest with politics. Have you ever faced with such kind of behaviour?

- Armenia has many times used political provocation in the Eurovision Song Contest. For instance, during the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, the promotional video broadcast before the performance of Armeniaâ€™s representative included an image of the monument located in Khankendi, an Azerbaijani town currently under the occupation of Armenian army forces. Upon the appeal of the Azerbaijani side to the organizers of the competition this image was removed from the promotional video. Nevertheless, while announcing the votes given by Armenia during the final, the Armenian presenter Sirusho held a notepad in her hands with the image of the same monument. In another Eurovision Song Contest Armenia wanted to provoke Azerbaijan by claiming in the international media that they would choose the Armenian representative from the occupied territories of Nagorniy Karabakh. Yet another example was Armeniaâ€™s participation in the session of the 64th General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union held in Baku, which they at first confirmed. But just like now, one day before the meeting Armenia changed its decision and declined to attend. They put forward a groundless claim: as though an employee of Russian Aeroflot in Moscow tore their tickets to pieces and did not allow them flying to Baku. Had this indeed happened, the Armenian side would have made a huge scandal out of it. In short, in all situations Armenia tries to shift all the responsibility to the Azerbaijani side and to portray Azerbaijan as the enemy of all Armenians.

- How does the involvement of creative people in politics impact cultural relations and projects like Eurovision?

- I donâ€™t believe the decision came from the creative people behind the project. By the way, Lusiya Mun, the former resident of Baku, who wanted to represent Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest 2012, has applied to the public broadcaster of Armenia and expressed her wish to participate in the Baku show. According to her words, the music must be out of politics. It means that there are some Armenian singers who want to perform on the Azerbaijani stage. If you follow the discussions in the media and social networks, you can see that most Armenians criticize the decision to withdraw as clearly wrong.

Over a long period of time, we discuss the benefits of people’s diplomacy to resolve the conflict. The withdrawal of Armenia from this great cultural project for groundless reasons and their attempt to politicize the issue show that they are not so sincere about the rapprochement. One can only regret that they tool this decision. The performance of Armeniaâ€™s representative on Baku stage could be a joint peace message to the world. As a person fully aware of the details of the issue, I would like to note that Armeniaâ€™s decision showed their attitude not only to Azerbaijan but also to the European Broadcasting Union. As I mentioned above, Armeniaâ€™s Public Broadcaster made a number of rule violations in different EBU projects where Azerbaijan was a participant as well.

I hope that after this event all EBU family members will once again realize the equal application of rules to all countries. According to the rules, Armenia will face financial sanctions. As for the creative side of the contest, the Eurovision Song Contest will not lose much from the withdrawal of Armenia. We will present an incredible show to the whole world in May and people will remember the Baku event for a long time.