Armenia’s Iveta Mukuchyan had a pretty good performance last night at the Eurovision 2016 international song contest, which helped Armenia qualify for the finals, where Iveta will be performing along with representatives of other semi-final winners: Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, The Netherlands and Russia.
Iveta appeared to have some technical issues at the start, she had to adjust an earphone at some point (watch 1:12 minute in the video above), but she looked hot and the audience loved it. And she sounded ok too… not exactly my favorite type of singing though.
As is often the case, this year’s Eurovision was also used by Armenia to bring in some politics. Iveta Mukuchyan appeared to the Qualifiers Press Conference bearing a Karabakh flag. When a foreign journalist asked why she chose to bear one of the most politically charged flags in Europe, Iveta responded: “My thoughts are with my motherland. I just want Peace on borders, Armenia wants Peace. And this is why I wrote this song. I just want to spread love waves.”
https://www.facebook.com/adrineh.gregorian/posts/10156872495755641
PS: And one last thing — I just love these special effects on stage! :))
https://66.media.tumblr.com/1120b1b1238e9b630270b51292cd7080/tumblr_o6z9tneYJo1um62yuo1_1280.gif
Artur Papyan
Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant
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She wins. Period.
The EBU’s statement over Armenia
The EBU and the [Eurovision Song Contest] Reference Group, the governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest, strongly condemn the brandishing of the Nagorno-Karabakh flag in the Green Room during the live transmission of the first Semi Final on 10 May and considers the flag’s appearance in the transmission harmful to the Eurovision Song Contest brand.
The Reference Group has decided to sanction Armenian broadcaster, AMPTV, in accordance with the Rules. The nature of the sanction will be determined, at the latest, by the next Reference Group meeting in June.
We are acutely aware of the tense situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the on-going tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We consider the appearance of a flag of a highly disputed territory in the live transmission a serious breach of Rule 1.2.2h of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest stating that “no messages promoting any organisation, institution, political cause or other, company, brand, products or services shall be allowed in the Shows”.
Furthermore, the EBU has imposed a zero-tolerance policy towards the Armenian delegation with regards to breaching the Rules of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, in particular in relation to the aforementioned incident.
The Reference Group wishes to point out that any further breach of the Rules of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest could lead to disqualification from this year’s event or any successive editions.
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