Confirmed: Armenia Withdraws
Early on Wednesday, it was announced that Armenian broadcaster ARMTV had withdrawn their bid to participate in this year’s Eurovision Song contest, to be held in neighboring Azerbaijan.
According to ESC Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand, “We are truly disappointed by the broadcaster’s decision to withdraw from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. 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.”
The withdrawal of Armenia from this year’s contest means that a grand total of 42 nations will be competing in Baku, with an even split among the two Semifinals.
The country first sent a representative to Eurovision back in 2006, and with the exception of last year’s “Boom Boom“, they had made it into the Top Ten each year, reaching as high as 4th place in 2008.
Posted on March 8, '12, in 2012, Armenia. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
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Withdrawing so late? And no talk about any fines being pushed? Avoidance of fines was the main reason Slovakia continued participating last year, no?
Not that I would ever wish a fine upon Armenia, of course; just something that jumped at me.
I assume the withdrawal and any penalties incurred will be a topic of discussion during the Head of Delegations meeting in Baku on the 19th of March…
Well, the contest is being held at Baku, Azerbaijan.They are technically/supposedly (take your pick) “at war” with Armenia. Perhaps that gives the Armenians a pass?!?!?!
I didn’t think the Armenians had any intentions of going to Baku…
Go to escforum and take a long, hard look at the Armenian/Azeri threads from the time these nations entered the ESC. You get plenty of drama. LOL!
There’s no love lost between natives of those two countries, I assure you.
Maybe I was just being naive, but I was seroisly thinking Aremnia were going to be there. Sirusho had put stuff on her facebook page saying she would give it another go and everything… But hey-ho… if there would have been some real dnager to the Armenians in Baku, it would just have overshadowed the whole contest. Maybe it’s unfortunate, but the right decision for Armenia to take a year off.
I wonder if Azerbaijan would do the same if Armenia won??
They would have… lol Those two countries hate each other. Don’t you remember in 2009 when the Azeri government arrested and interrogated 43 people for voting for Armenia? lol
Oh I know haha 😛 And they try to tell us Eurovision aint political!!!
Well, Armenia’s withdrawal, which I fully inderstand 8and I won’t blame them for this decison) mainly means 12 pts less for Russia or Georgia, I guess, and less points for Anggun too as Armenia is one of the countries having given regularly points to the French songs…