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Who are banned from giving concerts in Azerbaijan? â€“ INVESTIGATION

Who are banned from giving concerts in Azerbaijan? â€“ <font color=red>INVESTIGATION </font>

30 September 2009 12:56 (UTC +04:00)

About 15 foreign singers are not only banned from giving concert in Azerbaijan, but also from coming to Azerbaijan.

The investigation shows that most of these singers are from Russia: Katya Lel, Soso Pavliashvili, NAdejda Babkina, Aleksandr Peskov, Valentina Legkostupova, Stas Kostyushkin, Denis Kiyaver, Irina Otieva, â€œChay vdvoyomâ€ group. The abovementioned Russian singers are officially banned from giving concerts in Azerbaijan, since they participated in the events held on the 13th anniversary of â€œNagorno Karabakh Republicâ€ in 2003. Following this, Culture Ministry of Azerbaijan made a statement and regarded the performance of the Russian artists as disrespect for Azerbaijani people.

Philip Kirkorov is not permitted to come to Azerbaijan, either. Though Kirkorov wishes to come to Azerbaijan and give concert in Baku, he has not realized his wish yet. This is linked to the descent of his mother who is Armenian.
Philip Kirkorov told APA that former Culture Minister, Azerbaijani ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu impedes his coming to Azerbaijan.
â€œYou should have asked Polad Bulbuloglu about it. All these years I tried to come to Azerbaijan, but it was impossible. Polad Bulbuloglu did not permit me to come to Azerbaijan. I want to give a concert in Azerbaijan, but it does not depend on me,â€ he said.

Dayrush and Gugush, singers from South Azerbaijan are also banned to give concert in Azerbaijan. Uncertain political problems impede this.

We tried to get more exact list from official sources, we were told that the list is not publicized.
Reliable sources did not refute the existence of this list, either.

Culture and Tourism Ministry said there was no special list. Spokesperson for Culture and Tourism Ministry Zohra Aliyeva told APA that there are singers who are banned from giving concerts in Azerbaijan. According to her, though there is no special list, the singers, who do not respect Azerbaijanâ€™s laws and territorial integrity, are not allowed to give concert in our country.
â€œThere are singers who gave concerts in â€œNagorno Karabakh Republicâ€. They do not deserve to come to Azerbaijan or give concert here. They marked our grief as a holiday. Those who gave concerts in those lands, do not respect Azerbaijanâ€™s statehood, legislation do not have moral rights to come to our motherland. If any respectable and famous singer does the same, the ban will also be imposed on him. I think every singer should know beforehand how his (her) steps will be assessed,â€ she said.

Heads of organizing companies in Azerbaijan also share these views. Head of â€œSes Organizationâ€ Nahid Emiloglu told APA that he refused to organize the concert of Turkeyâ€™s representative in Eurovision Hadise Acikgoz, who got 12 points from Azerbaijan and three months later said she supports the reopening of Turkey-Armenia borders.

Head of Art Community Elman Sidgiyayev and representative of Tonica Production Zehra Badalbayli said they had not imposed ban on any singer. They said they respect Azerbaijanâ€™s legislation and agree to the bans imposed by them.