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Azerbaijan launches investigation into Eurovision voting
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 21 May 2013
The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has ordered an inquiry into why his country gave the Russian Eurovision entry no points on Saturday. Apparently ‘they just didn’t like it very much’ isn’t an adequate answer.
According to officials, reports the BBC, voters and Azerbaijan’s jury were strongly in favour of the Russian song, ‘What If’ by Dina Garipova, which came fifth overall in the competition.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu confirmed that an investigation was being launched, saying: “According to this data, Russia should have received ten points from Azerbaijan”.
The head of the country’s state broadcaster Camil Guliyev added: “We sincerely hope that this incident, possibly initiated by certain interest groups, will not cast a shadow over the brotherly relations of the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples”.
Russia gave Azerbaijan’s entry, ‘Hold Me’ by Farid Mammadov, the maximum twelve points.