AZERBAIJAN: Hosting Eurovision has transformed the capital Baku, which has seen ambitious redevelopment, but critics say the government has not seized the chance to introduce real reform

Record ID: 218218

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Hosting Eurovision has transformed the capital Baku, which has seen ambitious redevelopment, but critics say the government has not seized the chance to introduce real reform
  • Date: 22nd May 2012
  • Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (MAY 21, 2012) (REUTERS) NEW BUILDINGS ALONG CASPIAN BAY HUGE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST POSTER IN CITY STREET VARIOUS OF "CRYSTAL HALL," VENUE OF EUROVISION SONG CONTEST WITH NATIONAL FLAG IN BACKGROUND VOLUNTEERS IN BAKU EUROVISION 2012 PRESS CENTRE VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS WORKING BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (MAY 20, 2012) (REUTERS) EWAN SPENCE, FROM, "ESC IN
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Entertainment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA483PWIHN9967TVOFGW2SCXLKW
  • Story Text: Azerbaijan has opened its doors to host the 57th Eurovision Song Contest, due to start on Tuesday (May 27), doling out funds to build a new venue for the competition in Baku and inviting Eurovision fans from 42 countries to attend the concerts, but critics say the former Soviet republic has stopped short of any real reform.
    Azerbaijan, with just nine million inhabitants and an economy dependent on oil, won the right to host the contest by winning the event last year in Germany, with the love song "Running Scared" performed by Eldar Gasimov, and Nigar Jamal, better known as of Ell/Nikki duo.
    For those more used to the glitzy world of Eurovision, the traditions and politics of Azerbaijan may seem unfamiliar, but journalist Ewan Spence sees a nation which is growing up fast.
    "It's a city that almost found its identity, but needs another couple of years to really know itself. It's like a teenager at the moment. It kind of knows what it wants to do when it when it's built up everything and left school and it is going to be very successful, it is just not quite sure how," said Spence, who writes an internet blog on the Eurovision song contest.
    The final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday (May 26) will be watched by an expected 125 million people world-wide, bringing Azerbaijan into the global spotlight.
    The country under President Ilham Aliyev has come under fire, however, for its human rights record and with reports that homes have been razed near the new Crystal Hall arena as part of a wider redesign of the city. Flush with cash from oil and gas sales, the Azeri authorities have swept away whole regions of Baku to make way for parks, roads, luxury apartments and a shopping centre ahead of the song contest.
    New-York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said dozens of families were forcibly evicted without warning or in the middle of night in four Baku areas, for urban development ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest.
    With just days to go before Azerbaijan hosts the Eurovision Song Contest final, opposition activists stepped up protests against the government and started a hunger strike to demand the release of fellow activists arrested during protest and rallies.
    In the one-room office of the opposition 'Mussavat' Party in Baku, activists are on hunger strike.
    "Why have we been on hunger strike for several days? Democracy does not exist in our republic, that is why. We have no basic rights here. Young people who did not do anything wrong were arrested in my country. They were arrested for the simple reason that they wanted democracy, they wanted the democracy and freedom of speech which should be theirs," Egana Amuraslanova, one of 12 activists on hunger strike, told Reuters .
    "The authorities had a good chance to start positive reforms ahead of Eurovision and to demonstrate to the whole of Europe that at last the Azeri authorities started reforms, but unfortunately, I cannot say this has happened," People's Popular Front Party leader, Ali Kerimli told Reuters.
    Though Azerbaijan's opposition and human rights groups criticise the Aliyev government's human rights record, other residents welcome the construction of gleaming glass and concrete skyscrapers which Eurovision has brought.
    "In fact it is good! Lots of tourists have arrived. It is a big advert for the country and it gives us a chance to develop the touristic potential of the country. So, I say it is good. Small and average business would make revenues on this event, and this is good too," said Abas Babyev, walking on one of Baku's new boulevards with his wife..
    "And we will have fun too, us ordinary people I mean," Babyev's wife Afa Avdinova added.
    Azerbaijan has trained thousands of police, temporary staff and volunteers in order to equip them with the basic foreign language skills needed to handle the thousands of Eurovision fans arriving in Baku from all over Europe. But for many fans the cost of hotel rooms in the Azeri capital as well as the logistics of booking them, have posed a serious challenge.
    "Organizing (the trip to Baku) was really, really difficult, because we could not book anything from Germany. So we, or rather I, have been looking for an agency which offers private accommodation and that's what we have now," said Ismar, who travelled to Baku from Germany for the contest. He said he was now absolutely delighted with a huge apartment and the view from his balcony over the Caspian Bay.
    German travel search engine Swoodoo said some Baku hotels had increased their prices six-fold and that hotel rooms were available at an average price of 341 euros (440 USD) a night for the period between May 22 and 27, as compared to 140 euros (178 USD) for the weeks on either side of the contest.
    Nahir Bagirov, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Tourism Association, said that nothing extraordinary had happened with hotel prices in Baku.
    ""As compared to all those four countries, where Azerbaijan participated - this is Moscow, this is Dusseldorf, this is Oslo, this is Belgrade -compared to all of them, Azerbaijan offered the lowest prices to all the (Eurovision Song contest) official delegations, to all the journalists, to all the fans, to all the guests," Bagirov said.
    The Eurovision semi-final heats take place on Tuesday night (May 22) and on Thursday (May 24) and the final on Saturday (May 26).
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