Now neighbours Russia and Armenia take part in the Eurovision Song Contest and neighbour Georgia is eager to do so as well, public discussions about participation started in Azerbaijan. “There is really no one to worthy represent Azerbaijani people in this song contest. Azerbaijani singers claiming that they can participate in the Eurovision Song Contest can only sing in restaurants and they become popular by the help of money”, the popular singer Yalchin Rzazade said.

According to Rzazade, a singer to participate in this song contest should be a professional first of all. “Secondly, he or she should have a beautiful appearance. There are beautiful singers in Azerbaijan. However, not all of them are talented”, Rzazade said.

Rzazade indirectly says that his country should not take part at all, as no one meets the standards that are neccesary to take part. “Our pop stars do not meet the standards of this contest. What I want to say is that some of our pop stars claming to participate in the contest cannot represent Azerbaijan. It would be shameful for us. In Azerbaijan, if you have money, you can write songs, make disks or clips. Most of our young singers pay some money to televisions to display their clips, as a result the new generation is obliged to listen to these songs. It is not a real art”, the popular singer said.

For the moment, a discussion about Azerbaijan's participation might be a little too early, as the country's public broadcaster AZTV is not even a member of the European Broadcasting Union…