Azernews.Az

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Armenia's dream to politicize the Eurovision Song Contest was reduced to rubbles when it was forced to change the title of its song following strong pressure from both Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The ESC official website said that at a meeting with heads of delegations from all 40 attendant countries in Vienna on March 16, Armenia introduced the new title for its song to be performed by the Genealogy band.

The song, which was unveiled last week, was first titled "Don’t Deny" and caused a great uproar among Turkish and Azeri fans, as well as the media, as it appeared clear that Armenia aimed to promote a deliberate "political message" linked to its desire to see recognize the so-called "Armenian genocide" as a historical reality.

Armenia's provocative move, this time on a cultural stage, has sparked serious protests in Azerbaijan.

"Eurovision is a song contest, pursuing good intentions. It cannot be sacrificed to Armenia's political ambitions and turned into a political arena for its baseless "genocide" claims," said the supervisor of the contest in Azerbaijan.

The Public Television of Azerbaijan, official ESC introducer, reported that should Armenia confirm its entry in such a manner, it would have to take an immediate and adequate measure at the contest.

Following fair pressure from Azerbaijan and Turkey, the Armenian Public TV requested the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group to change the title of their entry for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest into "Face the Shadow", even though the song have been already submitted.

"The European Broadcasting Union and the ESC Reference Group confirmed they had changed the title of the song in an effort to eliminate any political intention behind the song," said Gohar Gasparyan, head of the Armenian delegation.

Armenia will take part in the first semi-final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 19th of May.

Meanwhile, the Armenian media interpreted the event as a "surrender and defeat" of Armenia before Turkey and Azerbaijan prior to the centennial celebrations of the mythic "genocide."

Armenianreport, a media outlet in Yerevan, claimed that the change in the song's title happened namely due to decisive efforts exerted by the heads of Turkish and Azerbaijani delegations.

Armenian media described the new title of the entry, "Face the Shadow" as "amorphous", and proof that the memory of the "genocide" has been betrayed.

"It is a blow on each Armenian living in any country of the world," Armenian report said.

The Armenian authorities and diaspora claim that the predecessor of modern Turkey - the Ottoman Empire - carried out a "genocide" against Armenians in 1915 in Anatolia. They annually raise their voice, calling for the recognition of the unreal events of 1915, inviting the international community to unanimously blame Turkey for the actions of its predecessor.

But since Armenia has been unable to command any factual proofs to support its claims, its calls for "recognition" have fallen into deaf ears.

Top Turkish leaders, in turn, have maintained that the events of 1915 were a difficult time not only for Armenians, but also for Arabs, Kurds and other ethnic minorities in the region, inviting their Armenian counterparts to team up for a joint investigation into the root of events.

But the Armenian authorities have constantly avoided to delve into history and extract at least one real fact about the "genocide."

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