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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
May 21 2013
Russia slams Azerbaijan over 'outrageous' Eurovision vote scandal
MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse
Moscow reacted angrily on Tuesday as its neighbour Azerbaijan admitted
that its vote at the Eurovision Song Contest awarding "nul points" to
Russia's song appeared to have been falsified.
The scandal topped the agenda at a televised briefing between the
countries' foreign ministers in Moscow, as Azerbaijan's top diplomat
admitted that the votes submitted for Russia via cell phone had
somehow been omitted from the final tally.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov read out a list of
votes submitted by the country's three cell phone providers, all of
them putting Russia in second place behind Ukraine, which should have
meant Azerbaijan gave Russia 10 points.
"Where these votes went, how they disappeared -- this is a question
for our state television," he said, calling the case a "detective
mystery." "When our contestant is robbed of 10 points, this does not
make us happy," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded
gravely.
Lavrov said the two sides had agreed that Azerbaijan's state
television must first clarify the details of what happened.
Then "we will coordinate our joint actions so that this outrageous act
is not left without response," he said.
The 10 points from Azerbaijan would not have changed the ranking of
Russia's contestant, who came in a disappointing fifth place, 17
points behind Norway's representative. The Eurovision row took
precedence at the briefing over diplomatic issues such as Azerbaijan's
territorial dispute with Armenia.
The scandal emerged on Monday when the director of Azerbaijan's state
broadcaster of Eurovision, Camil Guliyev, said that both the cell
phone votes and the professional jury had given Russia high marks, and
called the tally a matter of "serious concern and surprise." For
Azerbaijan, it is deeply embarrassing to have handed zero marks to
Russia, an important neighbour which it is keen to appease despite
tensions over energy and the long-running Nagorny Karabakh dispute.
Russia gave its maximum 12 points to Azerbaijan's Eurovision entry,
which came in second place. Oil-rich Azerbaijan hosted last year's
Eurovision on a grand scale in Baku with a brand-new sea-front venue
and city-wide celebrations, although rights activists held protests to
highlight the persecution of political opponents of President Ilham
Aliyev.
May/21/2013
From: A. Papazian
May 21 2013
Russia slams Azerbaijan over 'outrageous' Eurovision vote scandal
MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse
Moscow reacted angrily on Tuesday as its neighbour Azerbaijan admitted
that its vote at the Eurovision Song Contest awarding "nul points" to
Russia's song appeared to have been falsified.
The scandal topped the agenda at a televised briefing between the
countries' foreign ministers in Moscow, as Azerbaijan's top diplomat
admitted that the votes submitted for Russia via cell phone had
somehow been omitted from the final tally.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov read out a list of
votes submitted by the country's three cell phone providers, all of
them putting Russia in second place behind Ukraine, which should have
meant Azerbaijan gave Russia 10 points.
"Where these votes went, how they disappeared -- this is a question
for our state television," he said, calling the case a "detective
mystery." "When our contestant is robbed of 10 points, this does not
make us happy," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded
gravely.
Lavrov said the two sides had agreed that Azerbaijan's state
television must first clarify the details of what happened.
Then "we will coordinate our joint actions so that this outrageous act
is not left without response," he said.
The 10 points from Azerbaijan would not have changed the ranking of
Russia's contestant, who came in a disappointing fifth place, 17
points behind Norway's representative. The Eurovision row took
precedence at the briefing over diplomatic issues such as Azerbaijan's
territorial dispute with Armenia.
The scandal emerged on Monday when the director of Azerbaijan's state
broadcaster of Eurovision, Camil Guliyev, said that both the cell
phone votes and the professional jury had given Russia high marks, and
called the tally a matter of "serious concern and surprise." For
Azerbaijan, it is deeply embarrassing to have handed zero marks to
Russia, an important neighbour which it is keen to appease despite
tensions over energy and the long-running Nagorny Karabakh dispute.
Russia gave its maximum 12 points to Azerbaijan's Eurovision entry,
which came in second place. Oil-rich Azerbaijan hosted last year's
Eurovision on a grand scale in Baku with a brand-new sea-front venue
and city-wide celebrations, although rights activists held protests to
highlight the persecution of political opponents of President Ilham
Aliyev.
May/21/2013
From: A. Papazian