Few more comments on Azerbaijan's victory in Eurovision song contest

So for the last couple of days after I posted my entry on Azerbaijan's victory in Eurovision song contest a lot of feedback comments have been coming in and so I decided to write an additional entry regarding my original post.

Yes, it is true that Azerbaijan won the Eurovision song contest. Congratulations to Azerbaijan, its representers and all Eurovision song contest supporters around the world. And while for some countries Eurovision is not that big of a deal, for Azerbaijan its a matter of national importance. But at the end of the day, its just a song contest. 

Back to the point of being critical- some said that I shouldn't be so negative, and in fact appreciate the fact that Azerbaijan won. Well, let me explain. Azerbaijan won the Eurovision song contest- it has invested a lot, not only financially but also morally into this competition, and the fact that its won, shows how much effort was put into this. My point was that if Azerbaijan and those responsible for the contest manage to get Azerbaijan come first in some of the (though I still think the most unimportant) most popular competitions held every year- the Eurovision- why cannot it do the same thing regarding everything else that is wrong in this country- freedom of expression, freedom and security of journalists, overall security of its people, respect of human rights, equal rights, "0" corruption, better salaries, better liberties and much more...

And yes it is also true that by winning Eurovision song contest, many who have never heard of Azerbaijan before will now google (though according to some of Azerbaijan's officials, already 80 million hits were made on google in search of a key word Azerbaijan) Azerbaijan and start reading about Azerbaijan. And it is also true that as they search on the Internet about Azerbaijan they will not only be coming across of the Azerbaijan Azerbaijani government is striving to portray- equal, transparent, democratic, free- but they will also be coming across the Azerbaijan that it is in reality- unequal, corrupt, authoritarian, unfree. 

So perhaps, as Azerbaijan prepares to host 2012 Eurovision song contest, it should use this opportunity to show the world that Azerbaijan can not only win a song contest but that it can also set an example of true democracy and respect of its people and treat them with more than imposed fear and violent police...

'Running scared' from Interpol

For some it is the most important time of the year. For others its just yet another reason to crack jokes. Yep, here we are, for yet another Eurovision song contest. And as Azerbaijan celebrates its this year victory with a song called "Running Scared" by Nikki and Ell, one of Azerbaijan's young activists, Elnur Majidli declared wanted by Interpol. You know why? Well, simply because Azerbaijan chooses to spend thousands (if not millions) of government money on things like Eurovision while paying no attention whatsoever to the internal situation on the ground where for the record, journalists and activists get arrested on faked up charges. 

So yea people, continue celebrating something as unnecessary and stupid as a Eurovision song contest, while turning a blind eye on human rights, freedom of expression and all the other violations taking place in your country. Because who cares about that right when Azerbaijan won such an important event of the year?!