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Ictimai and EBU release more details in press conference
At the first big press conference in the lead up to the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, representatives of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as well as the Host Broadcaster of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Ictimai TV, gave a status update on the preparations for Europe's favourite TV show. The organisers also took the opportunity to answer questions from local and international media representatives. Over 100 journalists attended the conference at the Baku Business Centre.
Ictimai TV presented more details on the theme art and slogan for this year's contest, Light your fire! They also launched a brand new Azeri website dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest.
"The Eurovision Song Contest is almost impossible to organise in one year. Not many people know the effort it actually takes," Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the EBU, told the media. However, he assured that "all the deadlines have met so far by Ictimai TV".
Jørgen Franck, TV Director at the EBU, expressed its appreciation for the hard work of Ictimai TV. The public broadcaster of Azerbaijan, only founded in 2006 and participating in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, is doing an "excellent job", according to Franck.
"We are seriously preparing for the shows in May. And we have great partners on board for that," Adil Kerimli, Executive Producer of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ictimai TV, stated. Even though a large part of the television shows are being produced by the Germany-based company Brainpool, Kerimli assured that "a strong flavour of Azerbaijan will be added."
Venue
At the press conference, journalists asked whether the approved venue for the Eurovision Song Contest, the Baku Crystal Hall, was especially built for holding the competition, and voiced concerns over the demolition of apartments, allegedly for the purpose of building the brand new venue.
"The construction of the Crystal Hall was planned before we even won the Eurovision Song Contest. We had three alternatives for holding the event and only yesterday, this venue was approved by the Reference Group," Executive Producer Adil Kerimli of Ictimai TV explained. "This venue was not especially constructed for the song contest, but commissioned by the City of Baku for a variety of purposes," he underlined.
EBU Event Supervisor Sietse Bakker added that the demolitions referred to are apparently related to the construction of a road, and are "not related to the construction of the Baku Crystal Hall". While the construction of the Baku Crystal Hall is nearing its completion, the building referred to is still standing several hundreds of metres away from the construction site.
Human rights
The conference was also attended by several human rights activists, who referred to Azerbaijan's "poor record on human rights and media freedom", asking EBU officials to elaborate on the topic.
"We first of all believe the Eurovision Song Contest is a positive event that brings people together from a lot of different countries," said Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor on behalf of the EBU. Sietse Bakker, EBU Event Supervisor, added: "The EBU cares deeply about media freedom. In May, some 1,600 journalists will travel to Baku and we received guarantees from the Prime Minister that they can do their work freely."
During the press conference, organisers also explained the scope of the press facilities that will be made available to the accredited press. Finally, Executive Producer Adil Kerimli invited all media representatives to "come back to the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest offices at the Baku Business Centre, to receive more information about the preparations and to answer any questions about the project."
The next official meetings in Baku will be held in March, when all the Heads of Delegations gather in the host city and will officially hand over their entries for this year's edition of Europe's favourite TV show.
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In addition to all what I said above, I want to add the following: Armenia with the help of Russian army occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land and its army stands 350km outside of the Capital of Azerbaijan. Armenia started the separatists war which took 60000 lives so far. Armenia continue took Azerbaijan refugees and tortured them in Armenian prisons ( see report of Memorial Human Rights organisation) and finally Armenia implemented a genocide in Azerbaijan town Khojaly where around 1000 women and children were killed during one night ( see report from Memorial Human Rights). Armenia is the closest military ally of Putin's Russia and Ahmadinejad's Iran. Conclusion: Avat, go fuck yourself!!!!
Avat. And this is the first message which you can see on the front page of Human Rights Watch related to Armenia. HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMENIA More than three years after street clashes between police and opposition protesters turned deadly, meaningful accountability for the excessive use of force by law enforcement remains remote. Armenia decriminalized libel in May 2010, but amendments to the civil code introduced high monetary fines for libel and led to an increase in lawsuits against newspapers, particularly by public officials. In some cases the excessive damages awarded by courts threaten the survival of newspapers. Authorities continue to restrict freedom of assembly. Torture and ill-treatment in police custody persist, and the government has failed to effectively investigate a troubling number of deaths in custody, as well as non-combat deaths in the military. and you have any moral rights to criticize any other country?
not a big fan of this site, however i can't just not say something in reply to what avatarmenia said here. avat Azerbaijan has a lot of problems and we all know about these problems. the discussions about corruption, lack of democracy etc is going on every day in newspapers, private TV shows, forums. we never said that Azerbaijan is a perfect country and everything is ideal here. no. and unfortunately we need much more time to make it ideal. but i am going to react on your provocative comments about my country. how you, citizen of Armenia can even talk about problems in Azerbaijan?..Your government demolished pieceful protests of your opposition after election in 2008 and during these protests were killed 10 protesters (official figure) and around 45(figure from independent human rights organisations). before that, the political mafia organised mass killing of MP's of Armenian parliament including Speaker of Armenian Parliament. you saying that in our country the power was transformed from father to son. well. but what was in your country?....the power was transferred from Kocharyan( Karabach mafia) to another representative of Karabach mafia Sarkisyan. all other political figures were declared traitors. now Kocharyan( former president and "god father" of the current political elite) is preparing himself for the next Presidential election. fantastic democratic records. bravo!!! :) in addition to this. the gay rights in Armenia is the most worsted in the world. government and society aggressively against any gay parades in Yerevan and any other gay movements. and this not a Muslim country. this is a christian country. majority of Armenian gay activists emigrated to the west and participated in a gay parades in LA, SF or NYC. And here are some examples: Armenia: New Rebuff to Broadcaster Armenia has denied a broadcast license to an independent television station, A1+, despite a European Court of Human Rights judgment that previous denials violated freedom of expression. Armenia: Skewed Prosecution Over 2008 Clashes Armenia has yet to hold the police accountable for their excessive use of force a year after a day of clashes with protesters that led to at least 10 deaths, Human Rights Watch said in a comprehensive report today.
Big crimes agaisnt human rights are commited in countries that supposedly enjoy a 'full' democracy. Just think of the US. Should I mention the way black people were treated there for ages? Apartheid not only happened in South Africa. Black and Latin communities are still in evident disadvantage even today. No need to mention the constant censorship (SOPA anyone?) and cover-ups.
There ll me problems !!!!!!!!!!!!!
From my side there won't be any other reference, I can't gurantee that from other users.
whatever that was, my avatar on this site anyway..I will kindly ask you (or anyone around here who is a member there as well) not to refer to me on another forum. I have posted just one message there so that they know I actually read those as well. Thank you in advance.
I didn't use any name, just initials.
I am terribly sorry to use esctoday's forum for such things but since there is no other way : Paschalis, I would appreciate it if my name was not mentioned on other blogs, on which I am not a member nor I intend to become one. I may not participate but I do read eurovision times..thank you very much and I apologise for using the forum for a personal issue, I had no other way to express my complain.
I was talking about countries that recently hosted esc dimitris, not generally about Europe..of course Italy is no better, since it was unlucky enough to have that disgrace of a primeminister for so many years..Berlusconi's leadership caused Italy to fall centuries behind on many issues..Anyway, better stop it here and focus on music :) got to pay some more attention to the german elimination round..
[Of course countries with limited tolerance (Serbia, Ukraine, Russia of course and Greece in a lesser extent) have hosted the contest] JMAMG,Really?What about Italy?Haven't you heard about murders of the gay community in Rome?I haven't heard about anything like that in Athens...
@Lina thanks, i love u too lol
@12 points...LOL i love you:-**************
I never talked about public intercourse or any other inappropriate action Lina nor characterized it as a right..I just pointed that it is discriminatory to say that only gay people do that or that it is one of the characteristics of the gay community..Ever thought that gay people may do that in large numbers in your country because they feel to be rejected by the social system thus they have to provoke in a way to gain attention ? it's not an uncommon for a group of people who face social marginalization to do such actions in order to provoke the very same system that rejects them..
can we stop talking about gays if u don't mind?
@just me , NO Cyprus parks is full of gays and police dont to anything for that , so dont worry the freedom of puplic sex in Cyprus is free ( if you want to call puplic sex as human right ).... And yes.. Straight people do this thing but for sure not in so huge numbers like gays and also straight mens is not going to run in the parks almost immidiate when arrive to Baku ! Gays must have same rights with Straights and i m strongly supporter of that issue !! But everything must have limits and for straights and for gays :) If a straight couple or gay couple want to make love is better to make it in private place...for sure theyr will enjoy it better :)
Hey! :) about gays. I saw some of them are walking hand in hand on street freely in İzmir. But just hand in hand. Not while kissing or another..
I totally agree, JMAMG. Things in Greece (at least in Athens) are much better now than in 2006 for the lgbt community by the way, but there's still more to be achieved.
I don't think anyone said that it's the people's fault Paschalis, I am pretty sure that no proper citizen encourages such oppresive regimes (except from the ones who actually are benefited by the regime itself) and you are right that actions are to be taken, unfortunately no one is willing to do that on an international level due to the oil supplies Azerbaijan holds..No one wants to push hard a regime which can have huge energy supplies to provide, it's all about the marketing (same thing with Libya before the uprising for instance..)..The azeri people should as well follow the example of the arab world and protest to change the current situation, it's a rebellion which should begin from them..On the gay issue : I believe that the more oppresed a community feels in a society the more intense and inappropriate it will react in order to gain attention..You will never see attitudes like the one Lina describes in Belgium for instance..that's what creates the bad reputation in first place : the social intolerance..
Sorry for being out of intresting them!! Armenian Rock Band Dorians in couple of days will make the premiere of the song they will perform if Armenian Public TV will chose them!! The lyrics are already revealed . Music - DORIANS, Lyrics - Vardan Zadoyan - -------------- "This is our world. When the time is right, we always run away, Or retire Flawing water shouldn't really be afraid From a fire Why we heart someone Only just for fun Why we always have to run Why don't we just live like people have to live, Tell me people We don't we just try to see the light and believe Stop the fire Cut the wire People of the world No more running No more crying This is our world Why we like to make Always-same mistake Our love is truly fake Why don't we just live like people have to live, Tell me people Why don't we just try to see the light and believe?"
I agree with JMAMG regarding the video galandar posted here, this has totally nothing to do with the lgbt community. I agree with Galandar regarding the fact that Azerbaijan is still behind in lots of things, but people can't be that absolute and negative against it without having visited it. It's not the people's fault, they didn't have the luck being born in a fully democratic country. I agree with Lina that some gay people have a bad reputation, but I think they should be able to walk on a street holding hands without being attacked or abused (well there are western european countries as well where this kind of attacks can take place) So overall, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think that the fans should give the country a chance if they want to and instead of criticizing they could do something to change the situation in Azerbaijan and other countries (joining Amnesty International is a good start)
I'm sure Azerbaijan will hold a great show! :) Hopefully they'll treat Armenia like every other country. I like the logo, thoughtless slogan :P.
"gays do very offen this thing" that's offending, discriminatory and naive at least ! I guess awareness and education on such things is very limited to Cyprus as well.. :(
Lina straight people can as well do the actions you mention.. and what "being a gentleman" means exactly ? Of course countries with limited tolerance (Serbia, Ukraine, Russia of course and Greece in a lesser extent) have hosted the contest but I believe we are talking about less democratic situations this year..
@Galandar Baghirov Lol!! Why do you speak Russian?? Forgot the rules?? Well! Tell me a country where there aren't rich people ?? And ESC 2012 will be held not in Yerevan! Thank to Some Swedish guys it will be held in Azerbaijan! I s kakikh por zemlya Karabakhskikh Armyan (chistoe bolshinstvo zemel) stali vashimi, chitayu i pryamo ne znayu mne blivats i smeyatsa kak ti nakachen fignyoy ot Day.az - a!! Luche idi dumay chto vi tvorili v Sumgaite , v Baku, v Gandzake (aka Ganja) s Armyanami kogda voyni eshyo i nebilo!! Armyane imeyut ne mene prav na svobodu chem Kosovskie Albantsi, Shotladtsi, sudantsi!! AND PLEASE DON'T TRY TO MAKE ME KEEP SILENCE THIS IS NOT AZERBAIJAN AND I"M NOT AN AZERI JOURNALIST AND YOU AREN"T SULTAN"S HEAD OF CENSOR DEPARTMENT !
No I don't feel uncomfortable discussing such issues galandar, I just think it is uneccassary to do so on a music site..And if it wasn't the topic relevant to such issues I wouldn't have made my first comment in first place..As for evidence they are all over the net, I don't need to provide the rankings Azerbaijan gets on every freedom issue (speech, human rights etc) or the news concerning the transparency of the election procedures, they are all over the place..Just learn to tolerate the fact that people who grew up in a different social environment won't praise Azerbaijan or any other regime over their treatment on humar rights issues..
Well I told my point of view and brought some evidences instead of blah bah blahing with no clue on a real matter. If you feel unsafe or not willing just stay home and do not come, no reason for further discussion of your unwillingness...The ones who want to come are highly welcome! Good night all!
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