Ictimai, the Azerbaijani national broadcaster has confirmed to ESCToday that Azerbaijan will participate at the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine next May.

Ictimai is yet to reveal the mechanism it will use to select the 2016 Azerbaijani Eurovision entry and act. More details will be disclosed in due course.

In 2016 Ictimai opted for an internal selection in order to select its Eurovision act and song for Stockholm. Samra had the grand honour of representing the Land of Fire at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her entry Miracle.

Azerbaijan has enjoyed massive success in the contest since their debut in 2008, achieving a total of 5 TOP 5 placings out of their 9 participations, including a victory in 2011 ( 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012, 2nd in 2013).

Azerbaijan debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and won the event on its 4th attempt in 2011 with Ell and Nikki’s Running Scared, thus bringing the contest to Baku in 2012.

With Azerbaijan in the house, 34 countries have so far confirmed their intention to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

The period for countries to apply for participation at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest concluded on 15 September. Hereafter applicant countries have a grace period until 10 October to decide if they are to stay or not in the competition without facing a financial penalty.

The final and confirmed list of the ESC 2017 participating countries is expected to be released by the EBU by late December/early January.

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held at the IEC in Kyiv on 9, 11 and 13 May.