An Azeri man claimed on Tuesday that Azeri authorities asked him to explain why he voted for Inga and Anush, the entry from traditional foe Armenia, in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Rovshan Nasirli told the Reuters news agency that officials in Baku questioned him last week.
“The National Security Ministry summoned me and started asking why I voted for the Armenian group, saying it’s surely unpatriotic,” he said.
“The investigator said such behavior showed I’m easily recruited. I explained that I simply voted for ‘Jan Jan’ because I liked the style, not for political reasons.”
Forty-three Azeri citizens voted for Armenian duo Inga and Anush at this year’s contest, looking past the hostility present between Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians following decades of strife over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
An official from Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry confirmed that Azeris who voted for Inga and Anush were questioned, but he did not elaborate.Â
That Azerbaijan’s government would actively discourage its citizens from voting for Armenia is the latest twist in the two nations’ troubled relationship at Eurovision. Armenia came under attack after its presenter Sirusho flashed images of the disputed “We Are Mountains” statue while reading out the results of the Armenian vote; both Armenia and Azerbaijan lay claim to the region where the statue sits. Azeris have also accused Inga and Anush of borrowing heavily from an Azeri folk artist. You can read vitriolic comments from both sides here.
Despite the drama surrounding their respective entries, both countries fared well at the contest: Azerbaijan’s Arash and Aysel finished third and Armenia’s Inga and Anush finished tenth.
Wiwi wishes that Azerbaijan’s government would loosen up and follow the lead of the Armenian public. Despite the ongoing political conflict, Armenians still awarded Azerbaijan one point in Moscow.
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Did Armenia’s Inga & Anush Borrow Their Tune From An Azeri Artist?
