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Eurovision host Azerbaijan 'targets activists'


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I am sure that the BBC doesn't report about Azerbaijan or Baku negatively only...

I could be wrong but then from what I saw so far BBC is mainly concentrated on negative issues in Azerbaijan and political articles. I have never seen a positive article from them in this regard, furthermore, caring about human rights they never publish any articles for instance on IDPs in Azerbaijan etc... Please correct me if I am wrong.

You are aware that "Western" media are trying to show the whole of an issue, since you are living in Vienna - you might not agree with all the different articles, reports etc. etc. which are shown on TV or published in a newspaper, but I am quite sure that you are aware of the human rights in Azerbaijan and the situation e.g. in Austria - therefore you are aware of the differences, also.

I think you speak German, Galander - did you read the interview of the EBU-president Mrs. Deltenre in the Spiegel about the ESC in Baku and the human rights in Azerbaijan?

I speak German and I read article. You know, this would be too biased if I state that everything is ideal in sense of human rights and politics in Azerbaijan. No, there is still a long way towards our goal. I am aware of the problems which exist in my country but I also believe there is a potential to improve. Today Azerbaijan is not the same Azerbaijan it was even some 5 years ago and I strongly believe 5 years later we would achieve a new goal in this regard. Perhaps it is good to evaluate country from different sources but then one should visit it once in order to see things and improvement. We are willing to be an open-minded country with better standarts of social life and free doors for everyone. Taking into consideration our past it is hard to reach that in a short time but possible... I believe in our future!

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The BBC will be giving your country a whole evening of positive coverage when Eurovision is on, as will all other EBU members.

Unfortunately, with news broadcasters reporting on smaller countries it's only likely to be negative stories which are "newsworthy". That doesn't mean they have an anti-Azerbaijan agenda at all, it's just the way of things. But if your country really has only just lifted bans on anti-government protests, really does have a problem with journalists being beaten, newspapers being forced to shut etc. then I don't think reporting this is anything other than healthy. Beijing went through the same issues in 2008, and Qatar and Sochi will likely have to deal with opening up to the world too. And we've had threads on the London riots in the London 2012 section. I didn't ask the mod to close those down. Nobody is picking on Azerbaijan

Perhaps we can move on from discussing the source of this, and instead dicuss its content and the implications it has for the bid.

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I could be wrong but then from what I saw so far BBC is mainly concentrated on negative issues in Azerbaijan and political articles. I have never seen a positive article from them in this regard, furthermore, caring about human rights they never publish any articles for instance on IDPs in Azerbaijan etc... Please correct me if I am wrong.

Well, I live in Hamburg - therefore I am more used to NDR/ARD. When I look on the official German ESC-website (run by NDR) you find articles about the changes in the city, the venue, the entries and about the political situation in Azerbaijan.

On the ARD-TV-channel are political programs, which shows reports about the human right situation in Azerbaijan - such reports caused the complain of the Azeri embassy in Berlin. I think Jan Feddersen said it good, when he wrote in his blog, that it would have been better when they (Azerbaijan) focus on hosting a fantastic contest and on the improvement of the human right situation resp. their democracy instead of complaining.

There are always reports, to which somebody don't agree, but due the fact we have so many different media - therefore we got a general overview of things.

The BBC is like ARD or ORF - when you are start searching you will find positive reports too - if the BBC had esteemed as Azerbaijan negative in general it wouldn't have sent an entry.

I speak German and I read article. You know, this would be too biased if I state that everything is ideal in sense of human rights and politics in Azerbaijan. No, there is still a long way towards our goal. I am aware of the problems which exist in my country but I also believe there is a potential to improve. Today Azerbaijan is not the same Azerbaijan it was even some 5 years ago and I strongly believe 5 years later we would achieve a new goal in this regard. Perhaps it is good to evaluate country from different sources but then one should visit it once in order to see things and improvement. We are willing to be an open-minded country with better standarts of social life and free doors for everyone. Taking into consideration our past it is hard to reach that in a short time but possible... I believe in our future!

Yes, of course! And it is fantastic that Azerbaijan has the money to do so - of course such events boost a lot, but such events don't do everything...

The people have to learn to express/to ask for their rights and the state has to find a way to organize it - and I don't mean the rights of the majority only but of the minorities, too - the standard of a democracy isn't evaluated by how the majority is treated but how a minority.

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RobH, I understand your point. You are right, thiose big name media agencies are writing mainly negative facts about smaller countries and due to their popular status they are simply ruining reputation of countries among a big number of people who are not supposed to know anything about a country (in our case Azerbaijan) before.

Could you please name which opposition newspapers were closed down in the last several years? In fact the most famous newspaper of Azerbaijan is an opposition Yeni Musavar newspaper http://www.musavat.com Censorship in Azerbaijan was abolished some years ago so believe me anti-governmental media is writing in a really hostile way about the government and exact persons and nobody is doing nothing against them apart from some court cases.As for Khadija Ismayilova and her video, the head of the apparat of president Ali Hasanov during a press conference condemned this kind of attitude towards a personal life of a journalist or anyone else. I suppose this would be stupid to think the government itself decided to disrupt its reputation by doing that to her just a month before the song contest. Another big name is Eynulla Fatullayev, who was inprisoned for some time. I know that was not good but now he is free and he is working for opposition media.

When it comes to demonstrations, unless the demonstations and riots are not agreed with Baku City Hall nobody is preventing them. For instance there were some antigovernmental protests in the last couple of months which were approved by Baku City Hall and local and foreign media paid major attention to them.

All above-mention shows that things are not so clear and fine but media exxageration is also a fact. We have to find a way from a darker room not shut down all the doors which show us a way to light. Thank you!

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The people have to learn to express/to ask for their rights and the state has to find a way to organize it - and I don't mean the rights of the majority only but of the minorities, too - the standard of a democracy isn't evaluated by how the majority is treated but how a minority.

Which minorities do you mean?

If you mean national minorities we are a tolerant country and the rights of national minorities are supported on a good level. They have religious and national communities, represented parliament and other high-ranking positions in public and private sectors.

If you speak about political minorities, then we have to agree that opposition is pretty weak and the government enjoys their weak position a lot. The only way the opposition can gain any support is if they refresh themselves. There is a need in new people with new ideas otherwise nobody trusts anymore to former politicians who are today leaders of the same parties they were 20 years ago.

If you speak about sexual minorities, here we have some problems. In this case you should take into consideration that we are an ex-USSR country with some muslim and caucasian traditions. It is hard to gain the same level of rights for sexual minortieis we see in many western countries. On the other hand, there is a progress we see in this sphere as well. First all the laws which were against LGBT people were abolished and according to Constitution every citizen regardless to his/her sex has the same rights. Just to name few other developments in this sphere such as NGO on gay rights "Gender and Ewuality", a gay portal http://www.gay.az and some gay-friendly bars and clubs in downtown Baku. Not much but this is definitely a progress for Azerbaijan.

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... in all different ways of meaning ...

When you take for example the second meaning in your list - you are right, politicians should have been persons of integrity, but it is important, too, that e.g. the voting laws guarantee a "free", "secret", "equal" and a "personal" election or the political groups (you can call them parties, too) have the same opportunity to do advertisement on streets or on TV before an election....

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... in all different ways of meaning ...

When you take for example the second meaning in your list - you are right, politicians should have been persons of integrity, but it is important, too, that e.g. the voting laws guarantee a "free", "secret", "equal" and a "personal" election or the political groups (you can call them parties, too) have the same opportunity to do advertisement on streets or on TV before an election....

During elections they are doing adds on the streets and they get free time on state TV.

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I did this because the topic is too political. Yes, I agree that Azerbaijan is not as democratic as western bidders and there is still a long way for us to move towards that. In the end it is a major sport event not a political congress and if there was matter there would be no Beijing 2008 and Sochi 2014.

On the contrary, though. It IS politics that got Beijing & Sochi the Olympics Games & what would keep Baku from getting them. Beijing said while they were bidding that what do human rights issues have to do with "sport", but yet at the same they played the "we R the largest country in the world that has yet to host the Olympics Games" card; what does their population have to do with "sport" then, too.

Same thing with Sochi, you don't think that Putin tried to use every "political" advantage that he could to try & get his winter sports mad country their first-ever Winter Olympic Games. You're being extremely naive if you think that politics don't play a role within the IOC. If in they didn't, then I would say, maybe, Baku might have a decent chance, but bcuz poltics ARE a part of the Olympic Movement, then Baku is at a disadvantage when other more poltically incentive, stronger bidders R in the picture.

N besides, I thought that you've always said that you're not trying to compare past bidders with Baku, but yet that's what you're always doing. N btw, Y do you live in Vienna, anyway, Mr. Baku.

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IDK exactly when & in what countless threads it could possibly be in, but something along the lines of "I'm not saying or comparing to bcuz I think it gives Baku an edge" or whatever.

And what "irony" R you taking about? The one where I merely asked Y you live in Vienna. But your lack of answering & just getting defensive about it answers it anyway. "Thank you!"

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IDK exactly when & in what countless threads it could possibly be in, but something along the lines of "I'm not saying or comparing to bcuz I think it gives Baku an edge" or whatever

Don't put words to my mouth. Where exactly did I say that? In fact I many times compared Baku's current bid to its 2016 one. At the same time I several times compared Baku 2020 to Barcelona 1992, Athens 2004 and Sochi 2014

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Whatever - like I said, I'm not gonna search countless threads to go & search for it. I know what you said.

N you've yet to explain the "irony" that you're talking about. Is it the poltiics one. Well, too bad. But that's the way it is, whether you like it or not.

The IOC is made up of over 100+ individuals from countries all over the world, with their own agendas, biases & self-interests in mind, & it's naive to think that every single one of them make their decisions simply based on "sport".

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FYI, you search for it or not I really don't care... If you said something like that you should prove your words, otherwise it will be hard to take you serious afterwards :rolleyes:

And thank you for "discovering a America" second time in a row, I would not know that without your help :D

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The majority of news stories are negative -- no matter what the size of the country. I lived in the UK for years and apart from coverage of the Academy Awards (which is not really news) all the stories about the US were negative. It is always corruption here, war there, famine here, juntas there, dirty dealings over here, environmental crisis over there -- that's the news --telling stories that most people would prefer to hide or ignore -- stories that need to be told despite some individuals overwhelming desire to bury the truth. Of course the BBC isn't going to do a story on the remodeling of Baku's airport or the latest Azerbaijani road construction. It's not newsworthy.

Galandar, you must abandon this notion that the BBC has some sort of anti-Azerbaijan bias. It's not true. They are just doing their job.

As others have pointed out, your desire to bury any negative news is merely confirmation of the lack of freedom and the anti-democratic attitudes reported by the BBC in their story,

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As others have pointed out, your desire to bury any negative news is merely confirmation of the lack of freedom and the anti-democratic attitudes reported by the BBC in their story,

Just lol Where do I try to bury any negative news? :blink: Should I keep silence or is it according to you negative to prove things with real facts, links, pictures etc? Whatever I am not from the ones who like to blah blah. I like to prove things with real facts ;)

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Just lol Where do I try to bury any negative news? :blink: Should I keep silence or is it according to you negative to prove things with real facts, links, pictures etc? Whatever I am not from the ones who like to blah blah. I like to prove things with real facts ;)

By trying to get this thread removed.

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By trying to get this thread removed.

It was my first reaction. I agree I was a bit overreacting whenever I saw a purely political article (one of the many BBC prepared in the last couple of months) ^_^ On the other hand, for instance, Turkey also has a big issue with their Football Federation and clubs but I see nobody discussing it here. I think that topic has more to do with their Olympic Bid than the abstract one about Azerbaijan we are discussing here :rolleyes:

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It was my first reaction. I agree I was a bit overreacting whenever I saw a purely political article (one of the many BBC prepared in the last couple of months) ^_^ On the other hand, for instance, Turkey also has a big issue with their Football Federation and clubs but I see nobody discussing it here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Two special reports today from Azerbaijan.

One from the BBC, who've made a Panorama Special:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/b01j8hf1

Video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18137850

The clip on the BBC website shows a man who voted for Armenia using his text vote in 2009, and was later questioned by the authorities for doing so. They also reveal there were people still inside the flats that were knocked down for the Crystal Hall when demolition began. It's on in half an hour anyway, I'll certainly be watching.

And Channel 4 News:

Yesterday I had my picture taken with Jedward, then Engelbert. Today I was punched to the floor by plain clothes police trying to stop a pro-democracy protest a stone’s throw from the brand new Eurovision Song Contest venue.

Link and superb 10 minute video report:

http://blogs.channel...nexpected/22051

We'll get to see what the country is a few days, but for now, this is certianly opening up the country in ways they probably didn't want.

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Even if one ignores the extremely dubious human rights situation, Azerbaijan shouldn't even be allowed to participate in Eurovision following their actions blocking the Armenian song in 2009 and questioning people who voted for Armenia. They broke the rules and got away with it.

I have a very open mind and don't always automatically accept what the media narrative puts forward (for example regarding some issues concerning Israel) but having accessed numerous sources and attended events including the screening of a BBC Persian produced documentary I have come to the conclusion that Azerbaijan is in no way fit and proper to host international events.

And I'm afraid that the EBU are complicit in government propaganda.

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it soounds very funny when people advicing others about human rights without knowing the culture the back history or the situation of that country. and whose human rights? people killed by law as much as china and iran in Usa? or force women not to wear traditional clothes on the streets and try to prison people who gonna say armenian genocide never happend loudly in france ( where speech and human freedom borns) ?

please guys none of us is perfect... hmmm may be iceland or greenland.. may be :)

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Nobody is stopping any of that being discussed Emre. We've had discussions on the Turkey/France situation here, we've had discussions around the French headscarf ban (which I see as anti-secular personally but this isn't the thread for that), we had many, many discussions about China in the lead up to 2008. So not discussing what's going on in Baku would be giving them special treatment, no?

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