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CNN PRESENTS "THE UNENVIABLE SITUATION" OF EUROVISION 2012
ARMENPRESS
24 May, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS: In recent weeks, the Eurovision Song
Contest finals, which take place Saturday, have inspired clashes
on the streets of the capital, Baku, between Azerbaijani police and
opposition activists, and accusations by state-controlled media in
Azerbaijan that a German "conspiracy" was waging an "information war"
against the hosts. As Armenpress reports, CNN writes this in its
today's article on "the unenviable situation" of Eurovision 2012.
"That followed a boycott of the contest announced by neighboring
Armenia in March, after the shooting of a soldier on their shared
border," the CNN article runs.
According to it, Armenia's withdrawal from this year's competition is
the result of tensions that have festered since a war with Azerbaijan
over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s, which
left between 20,000 and 30,000 people dead. But it is not the first
boycott to hit the contest.
"A frothy, kitsch spectacle to some, Eurovision has long been a forum
for heated geopolitical grandstanding, with allegations of bloc voting
and political skulduggery dogging the contest for years.
Despite the organizers' efforts to keep the contest apolitical --
the rules state that "no lyrics, speeches, or gestures of a political
or similar nature shall be permitted" -- European political tensions
have often been played out on its stage, says Eurovision researcher
Dr Karen Fricker," the article reads.
ARMENPRESS
24 May, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS: In recent weeks, the Eurovision Song
Contest finals, which take place Saturday, have inspired clashes
on the streets of the capital, Baku, between Azerbaijani police and
opposition activists, and accusations by state-controlled media in
Azerbaijan that a German "conspiracy" was waging an "information war"
against the hosts. As Armenpress reports, CNN writes this in its
today's article on "the unenviable situation" of Eurovision 2012.
"That followed a boycott of the contest announced by neighboring
Armenia in March, after the shooting of a soldier on their shared
border," the CNN article runs.
According to it, Armenia's withdrawal from this year's competition is
the result of tensions that have festered since a war with Azerbaijan
over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s, which
left between 20,000 and 30,000 people dead. But it is not the first
boycott to hit the contest.
"A frothy, kitsch spectacle to some, Eurovision has long been a forum
for heated geopolitical grandstanding, with allegations of bloc voting
and political skulduggery dogging the contest for years.
Despite the organizers' efforts to keep the contest apolitical --
the rules state that "no lyrics, speeches, or gestures of a political
or similar nature shall be permitted" -- European political tensions
have often been played out on its stage, says Eurovision researcher
Dr Karen Fricker," the article reads.