Azernews.Az

Armenia last Wednesday pulled out of the 2012 Eurovision song contest that will be hosted by the country`s bitter enemy Azerbaijan, the ex-Soviet republic`s state broadcaster said.

``Armenia decided to refuse to participate in the 2012 edition of Eurovision in Baku,`` Gagik Buniatyan, the director of Armenia`s Public Television station which would have broadcast the popular song competition, told AFP.

However he declined to explain the reasons behind the decision.

The organizer of the European pop extravaganza, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), expressed disappointment over the ``unfortunate`` decision.

``We are truly disappointed by the broadcaster`s decision to withdraw from this year`s Eurovision Song Contest,`` the contest`s executive supervisor, Jon Ola Sand, said on EBU`s website.

``Despite the efforts of the EBU and the host broadcaster to ensure a smooth participation for the Armenian delegation in this year`s contest, circumstances beyond our control lead to this unfortunate decision,`` he said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war in the early 1990s which left some 30,000 people dead. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since a fragile ceasefire was signed in 1994. Despite years of OSCE-brokered negotiations, no final peace deal has yet been signed.

A group of Armenian pop singers launched a boycott campaign last month.

``We refuse to appear in a country… where anti-Armenian sentiments have been elevated to the level of state policy,`` 22 singers including three former Armenian Eurovision contestants claimed in a statement.

Azerbaijani singers Ell and Nikki won Eurovision in Dusseldorf in May 2011, giving the energy-rich ex-Soviet state the right to host the contest this year.

`Pretexts`
Ismayil Omarov, head of the Azerbaijani Public TV channel, the Eurovision organizer, said he had ``sensed from the beginning`` that the Armenian performers would refuse to come to Azerbaijan for the show.

``They were looking for various pretexts,`` he commented. ``First, they cited security and other things. Then, I read in Armenian media that their artists, singers and composers appealed to the country`s Public TV administration not to send [a singer] to Azerbaijan. [Then I realized that] this is a game and sensed that they were not coming. It is their business. But not coming, in itself, is a defeat.``