Azerbaijan downplays Eurovision probe
Friday, September 4, 2009
BAKU – Daily News with wires
The interrogation of people who voted for Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest by Azerbaijan security services was “a mistake by one official,” the government has announced, as commentators said the probe humiliated the entire country.
In a move that brought unwelcome publicity, all 43 Azerbaijanis who sent a text message voting for the Armenian entry in the continent-wide music contest in May were summoned to the Ministry of National Security, or MNS, reported iwpr.net on its Web site.
“When I was called to the MNS, I thought they were arresting me for the strong criticism of President Ilham Aliyev I’d written on Facebook. I had even forgotten that I’d voted for Armenia. When the MNS started to interrogate me about this, I almost burst out laughing,” said Rovshan Nasirli, who was called to the ministry on Aug. 12.
Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan remain very tense. The two countries have never signed a peace treaty to end their 1991 war over Nagorno-Karabakh, although a ceasefire was signed 15 years ago. Armenian troops still occupy swathes of western Azerbaijan.
Describing a scene seemingly more suited for the interrogation of a serious criminal, Nasirli said the MNS tried to intimidate him. “After they kept me for two hours in an empty room, two men came to me, saying they worked for the main department of the MNS,” he said. “One had a list in his hand of all the people who voted for the Armenian entry, and their addresses. They said that people like me should be sent to prison. They said, ‘Today, you vote for an Armenian, tomorrow you will go to blow up the metro for them.’”
The MNS refused to comment on the summons, but Novruz Mamedov, head of the international department at the presidential administration, said the incident had been blown out of proportion. “Nothing special happened. There was no pressure applied to them. You just have to bear in mind that Azerbaijan is still a very young state. We have only been independent for 18 years, and not all our officials have the required experience,” Mamedov said in a statement issued to the APA news agency, in which he blamed the Armenians for stoking hatred against his country.
“For hundreds of years, many peoples have lived in peace in Azerbaijan, including 20,000 Armenians. Why does no one talk about this?” Mamedov said. “A mistake by one official is presented as a deliberate act by the national government. This is just part of a negative campaign that has been conducted against Azerbaijan for many years, and that is encouraged by Armenia.”
But the official’s attempts to calm the furor failed as gossip about the arrests spread on Azerbaijani blogs and Web sites. “I am sure this mistake was made by just one low-ranking official. And harm was done to the whole country,” said Togrul Juvarli, a political analyst. “The political weight of this incident has been great. When it is important to show the world that we are a civilized country, we behave like this.”
Nasirli said he was shocked by how little public protest there had been over the affair, and how the government was prepared to dismiss as a “mistake” the summoning of dozens of young people. “Every citizen should ask why illegal interrogation and investigation are allowed in Azerbaijan. This could happen to everyone because the officials do not respect the law,” he said. “The MNS should occupy itself with more serious issues. I liked the song, so I sent a text message. This is not betraying my homeland. If only we could solve Karabakh with text messages.”
But Nasirli cannot count on everyone defending him. Karabakh is a very emotional issue in Azerbaijan, which is home to hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced by the conflict. Akif Nagi, the chairman of an organization working for the liberation of Karabakh, said Azerbaijanis should not even send text messages in favor of their enemy.
“This is immoral. There is no place for tolerance in this question. The position of the MNS is correct. However, the MNS officials made a mistake in how they investigated the situation,” Nagi said. “They acted very crudely, asking those who voted for the Armenians to come in and putting pressure on them. Such people should have been investigated and kept under surveillance so they didn’t even suspect it.”
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php? ... 2009-09-04
This so ridiculous it's funny!
