Armenian broadcaster AMPTV has confirmed that it has withdrawn from Junior Eurovision 2021. The broadcaster is unable to continue with its Junior Eurovision preparations due to the introduction of martial law in the region.
The news was confirmed with a statement on the official Junior Eurovision website.
In the statement, Armenia’s reason for withdrawing is described as being “due to the introduction of martial law in the region” as a result of the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan.
The new Executive Supervisor of Junior Eurovision, Martin Österdahl said:
“Armenia is one of Junior Eurovision’s most successful competitors, having participated in 13 previous contests and never finished outside the top 10. We understand the reasons for their withdrawal, but it’s very sad news and they will be missed. We hope to welcome them back in 2021.”
While many participating countries have already selected their Junior Eurovision 2020 act, Armenia had not yet reached that stage.
Armenia made its debut at Junior Eurovision 2007 and have competed every year since. In that time, Armenia has finished third twice, placed second four times and won the contest in 2010 with Vladimir Arzumanyan’s “Mama”. Armenia hosted the contest the following year in Yerevan.
12 countries will participate at Junior Eurovision 2020
After Armenia’s withdrawal, 12 countries will participate at Junior Eurovision 2020. Twelve is still the lowest number of competing countries at a Junior Eurovision, equalled by JESC 2012 and 2013 — though those contests did not take place during a pandemic or a time of conflict.
As well as Armenia’s withdrawal, seven regular countries won’t be in the contest this year due to uncertainty from the Covid-19 pandemic. Taking this year off are: Albania, Australia, Ireland, Italy, North Macedonia, Portugal and Wales.
Junior Eurovision 2020: The 12 participating countries
- 🇧🇾 Belarus: Arina Pehtereva “Aliens”
- 🇫🇷 France: Valentina “J’imagine”
- 🇬🇪 Georgia: TBD
- 🇩🇪 Germany: Susan “Stronger With You”
- 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan: Karakat Bashanova “Forever”
- 🇲🇹 Malta: Chanel Monseigneur “Chasing Sunsets”
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Unity “Best Friends”
- 🇵🇱 Poland: Alicja Tracz “I’ll Be Standing”
- 🇷🇺 Russia: Sofia Feskova “My New Day”
- 🇷🇸 Serbia: Petar Aničić “Heartbeat”
- 🇪🇸 Spain: Soleá “Palante”
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine: Oleksandr Balabanov “Vidkryvai (Open Up)”
Preparations for Junior Eurovision 2020 are now underway. Many countries have already filmed their pre-recorded performances which will be incorporated into the live show on 29 November.
What do you think? Are you sad that Armenia is unable to participate this year? Tell us your thoughts below.
Martial law was put in place because of the war not because they are trying to violate human rights. The most important aspect of this martial law is all men between 18-55 must be ready to be drafted into the army…
It was expected but it still is really sad. I hope that in May both Armenia and Azerbaijan will be present in Rotterdam, and I really hope that this conflict will end soon. I’m not gonna talk about politics. I just wish that this situation ends.
I am sad that Armenia won ‘t participate in this year ‘s Junior ESC. I was expected this news. I hope to see them back next year
I don’t think Armenia will be able to join us in Rotterdam either. Armenia is hit hard by the war and Covid and it will take them awhile to get back on their feet. They are running out of Russia-Iran’s free weapons and diaspora’s aid. And they will eventually have to provide housing for the Syrian and Lebanese Armenian refugees that they brought to Karabakh in Yerevan. I heard all the hotels are full there now. Hope they can recover until next year.
So Armenia will withdraw from Rotterdam 2021 too
Suspension of the country’s writ of habeas corpus, which would allow authorities to do unlawful arrests and imprisonment to detainees and suspected individuals without legal consequence.
David Tserunyan’s Instagram posts concludes:
“Make no mistake, we will come back, stronger than ever.”
This is saddening but I did thought this was to be expected. Less than a month before the contest with barely any news coming from Armenia plus knowing that state the country is in, I was wondering how the broadcaster would be able to make it work.
Hopefully, they come back next year.
Unfortunate but can’t say it’s a huge surprise. It’s hard to justify to the people something like JESC participation at a time when you’re inflicting martial law on them.
I agree, with that long a time spent without saying anything I was pretty unsure she’d actually participate.
They’re not “inflicting” martial law…martial law is literally essential for Armenia’s survival right now.
The military is in charge of everything. They dictate what businesses can be open, who can be out on the streets. I doubt JESC perpetration is something they would consider an essential activity.
The fact that David Tserunyan, the Head of delegation for Armenia, confirmed on Instagram that Maléna Fox had already been internally selected for Armenia and that they worked really hard to be present this year despite COVID-19 and the war, makes this so much more sad 🙁 And they will even release Maléna’s song in the near future, so we can see what we would’ve had in the competition :'(( Hope to see Armenia back in 2021!
I was already expecting the worst news from Armenia. Less than 1 month and nobody knew anything about them. Sometimes politics suck :'(
Kinda unrelated to this article, but just a thought of mine: How will the green room work exactly in this year’s JESC? I know the performances have been pre-recorded, but when it’s time for jury voting and a country ___ gets 12 points, how will they show the artist’s reaction? Or when a country wins the competition? Do we get to see their reactions in any way? Are they sitting live on some green room made in their own respective countries? So many questions, yet we are still unsure how it will work out…
Each delegations and participating singers will be live in small studios in their respective countries during all the show. Then all the reactions will be in live, and about the winning moment I don’t really know how it will work, I think the producers have prepared something for this moment to be memorable.
Alright, I think your point sounds reasonable. I also thought that they might be in some small studios live. I think they might show their pre-recorded performance again after winning maybe? I’ve heard they’re also thinking about announcing the points again in 8, 10 and 12 order so that the voting could last longer. Do we also get rehearsal footage this year or?
To be honest, it will be quite interesting to see how this year’s JESC will turn out.
About the fact that each delegations will be in live it’s official, for the winning performance I think the same as you.
For the points yeah I’ve heard the same about the 8, 10, 12 points so wait and see.
The rehearsals footage will be released not before the jesc’s week.
But we can except to have surprises and some contents during november.
This was expected, but very sad news nonetheless… 🙁
Oh nooo.. Armenia was my favourite last year! I really was looking for their song ??
It’s logical, they can’t act as if nothing happened in their country, as if everything was good, like the belarusian broadcaster is acting without shame….
well having protests and being in a war is completely different.
In the case of Belarus not really, they are in war against a dictator and for their liberty… so of course the governement’s tv is acting as if nothing was happening….
i get your point, but still in Belarus not many people have died because of the protests, that cannot be said for the Nagorno-karabkh war.
You’re right in terms of number of deaths, but you can’t ignore what is happening in Belarus for that. There was people who died or were injured too. For me there is no a violence scale, as soon as there are violencies it’s not acceptable.
Belarus doesn’t have a martial law imposed in their country while Armenia has one which makes them unable to participate, it’s as simple as that.
Most people in Belarus neither participate nor support the protests, whatever your media tells. The Yellow Vests protests were way more massive. And yeah 3 people died in protests (it’s their decision to go to protests) while 3’000 died in the war (not their decision to be shelled).
I haven’t thought that this year’s jesc could get even worse. I’m definietly not going to watch jesc2020 and I hope that this war will be over until esc2021
On the positive side, it will be easier to rank the songs, as I would’ve imagined that Armenia could’ve come up with a very strong song as they usually have done. Now we just need to choose the 5 best to vote for from the 12 songs.
It will also be more fair, because only 2 songs will not get any points from a jury, but when its for example 20 songs it will mean 10 songs don’t get any points from a jury.
You can vote only for 3 countries this year.
Wait really!? 😮 How do you know that?
You should go on junioreurovision.tv to read the rules of this year 😉
This is what I found in there:
As usual 50% of the result will be decided by juries in each participating country and 50% by an online vote which will open on Friday 27 November. Audiences will be asked to vote for just their 3 favourite songs online rather than 3 to 5 as in previous years.
So yeah, just 3 songs 🙁
Oh god, it will be difficult to choose just 3 songs…
I really love Belarus, Kazakhstan and Spain, so I think it’s going to be those 3. It could change though when we see the live performances.
I also really like France, Germany and Netherlands and also Ukraine and Malta are growing on me a lot, so there will be sad moments…
Belarus is a good song for sure, and a great singer too but I can’t support them…., I’m waiting for the live perf too to choose my favorites because with the live we have always good and bad surprises.
I get why you wouldn’t want to vote for Belarus, but for me it’s not about politics at all, but the song and voice alone. And for me Belarus is songwise definitely in the top 3.
Each person has his own opinion about that, I don’t try to convince somebody, it’s so complicated. It’s a contest where you represent a country, a flag, so unfortunately there’s a political dimension even minimal.
JESC should be about unity, friendship and just happy times, not about politics. After all, they’re just children who want to do whay they love and meet new friends
Yes, I acknowledge the fact that ESC and even JESC have some politics involved in them. After all, we’re talking about countries and competition which automatically means there will be politics involved. The artists represent their country and their flag. That means they want to do their country proud and perform well in the competition. But I, myself, try not to bring politics into Eurovision, but just try to enjoy the music and have fun. Of course it’s sad to see the situation in all over the world and in countries like Belarus and in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
It makes sense seeing the number of participating country, 3 songs to choose out of 12, it’s pretty fair.
Yeah, I guess so. But what would be the difference if it would remain to the choose 3 to 5 of your favourite songs?
Noooo
Well that’s not a good sign for ESC 2021 either. Armenia and Azerbaijan may withdraw from Rotterdam if it doesn’t stop.
Azerbaijan is richer and their country is larger so fighting is never close to baku. They are less affected by a war on Artsakh/qarabag. I think we might see only armenia withdraw again unfortunately.
Armenia may, Azerbaijan probably won’t.
Actually I think that it’s either both will withdraw or both will stay. If Azerbaijan doesn’t withdraw because of the war so I don’t think Armenia will unless Armenia is very, very but very scared from Azerbaijan.
What kind of logic is that?! Why do you have to be scared of another country to withdraw from a competition?! You know that a conflict/war can cause different outcomes in respective countries.
The Armenian broadcaster may be financially weaker than Azerbaijan’s, which can lead to a withdrawal.
Of course, only time will tell, but these are just possibilities.
I know, but I was talking in case the war is still on when the time for eurovision comes. It’s a fact that Armenia is more poor than Azerbijan but Armenia really loves eurovision so I don’t think they’ll withdraw. Also, don’t forget that Azerbaijan is also hit very hard by the war, Armenia has bombed 2 Azerbaijani cities. I just hope that these 2 countries can end the war this month.