By Vestnik Kavkaza
The German periodical Der Spiegel published an ambiguous article on May 21st. It is devoted to the incident with the results of the vote in Azerbaijan at the musical contest Eurovision, according to which Russia didn’t get points from the neighboring republic. Vestnik Kavkaza presents a translation of the article.
Eurovision Musical Contest turned into a political issue: the foreign minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov accused Azerbaijan of stealing votes. The Russian singer unexpectedly got no points from the neighboring country, even though according to SMS-voting, she took second place in Azerbaijan and should have received 10 points.
The foreign minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mamedyarov, promised after the meeting with Lavrov in Moscow to investigate the incident. “This outrageous act cannot be ignored,” Lavrov stated.
“Azerbaijani state television, being a responsible TV-channel, must explain the situation,” Mamedyarov said, according to Interfax Agency. Ahead of this, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev demonstrated serious concern about the missing votes.
The Russian singer Dina Garipova took fifth place in the contest on Saturday in Malmo in Sweden. However, even 10 points from Azerbaijan wouldn’t have changed the final result because Russia trailed Norway by 17 points. Azerbaijan took second place, Farid Mamedov got 12 points from Russia for his song “Hold Me.” First place was taken by the Danish singer Emily de Forest with her song “Only Tears.”
The mistake, which became publicly known, put Azerbaijan in an embarrassing situation because good relations with Russia, its big neighbor, are important for Baku – especially in the context of tension over energy issues and the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
We hope that authors and the editorial of the online-version of Der Spiegel do not intend to turn such a respectable periodical into part of the tabloid press. The foreign minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov didn’t accuse Azerbaijan of “stealing votes,” as Der Spiegel states without any grounds. Moreover, der Spiegel for some reason avoided the fact that “Azerbaijani” votes were counted not by the Azerbaijani TV-channel, but the German company of “Digame Mobile.” Furthermore, the article is also incorrect because the public Azerbaijani TV “Ictimai” is not government-run. And the biggest surprise is the association of such problems as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and regional energy resources with voting at a festival of pop-music, which Eurovision is.
