Unfortunately this article is not available in English and has been automatically translated. Please visit our homepage for all English content or get an overview of all English articles here. You can also request a translation by sending us an email.

Tuesday evening the Armenian candidate Iveta Mukuchyan could not resist to the green room to wave the flag of Nagorno-Karabakh. That area has long been the cause of a turbulent relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a lot of violence in the region itself. The EBU investigates.

At the press conference after the show was the finalist asked why they had chosen just that flag, knowing that the conflict in the region very sensitive. ‘ I just want peace in my country and love waves from my number also really spread around the world, “she said to the press. She laid her position a little clearer later from via facebook.

But an Azerbaijani journalist was the Tuesday evening clearly do not agree with Iveta and her message of peace and extracted heavy forward to the singer. “The area is an integral part of Azerbaijan and will never by someone as an independent State recognised. ‘ The Azerbaijani singer Samra answered him briefly and succinctly: ‘ Eurovision is about music and about nothing else. ‘

Sanctions

The incident is not only politically sensitive. Also at the EBU they are working on it. Regional flags are normally not permitted in the Eurovision song contest and not at all when they serve to make a political statement. Only last week, stepped the EBU of that line after a lot of hoopla in the media.

They allow an investigation into the incident and now sit together with representatives of Armenian broadcaster to than to a penalty. The decision is expected in June. ‘ But we condemn the use of the flag of an area with so many political tensions in the green room during a live broadcast ‘, it sounds in their press release.