As participating nations begin selecting their entrants, Ictimai the national broadcaster of Azerbaijan has yet to confirm their plans for JESC 2022 in Yerevan, Armenia amid doubts and speculation in local media.
Will Azerbaijan participate in JESC 2022?
As countries slowly begin to announce their artists taking part in Yerevan this December, others are still uncertain of their participation. Recently Germany announced their one-year hiatus due to travel and safety concerns of the host country Armenia. Now local media in Azerbaijan are reporting doubts of their own participation.
Earlier this year Eldar Rasulov, the Head of Delegation for Azerbaijan, declared on national television that Azerbaijan would be back regardless of where the contest is hosted and determined to do even better than Sona’s best ever placing of 5th for the country.
No matter where the competition takes place, we must participate and work for a better result.
Eldar Rasulov, (Head of Delegation).
However, it seems the mood has cooled somewhat, and over half a year later there is increased uncertainty on participation. This is unsurprising due to the fractious relationship shared between Armenia and Azerbaijan. To this day both nations remain in a state of active conflict that sometimes crosses over into events the two nations participate in together.
In 2020 Armenia had announced the selection of Maléna with the entry, ‘Why’. Due to martial law enforced for the active conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and lack of preparation time, ARMTV eventually withdrew before the contest. After this, Armenia also confirmed their withdrawal from Eurovision 2021 for the same reasons.
Yet there is precedent of offers of hospitality between the nations previously. During the 2011 contest where Armenia was also the host nation, they extended an invitation to Azerbaijan. Although this offer was turned down, due to the resources and time management needed for the Baku Eurovision hosting in 2012. Of course Armenia went on to withdraw from Eurovision 2012 due to the lack of reassurances from the authorities over delegation and artist safety.
There is no decision on this yet, therefore it is impossible to say whether Azerbaijan will participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Armenia.
Ictimai Public Relations Department
Stay tuned for more developments on this evolving story and the final decision on whether Azerbaijan will indeed participate in Junior Eurovision 2022.
Junior Eurovision 2022
The 2022 Junior Eurovision Song Contest will be held on December 11th in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan, Armenia. This will be the second time that Yerevan will host the competition, after their previous hosting in 2011. So far a total of 16 countries have declared interest in participating.
- Albania
- Armenia (Host)
- Bulgaria
- France
- Georgia – Mariam Bigvava
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan – David Charlin
- Malta
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia – Lara Trpčeska and Irina Davidovska
- Poland
- Portugal – Nicolas Alves
- Serbia
- Spain
- Ukraine
Azerbaijan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Back in 2012 Azerbaijan made their Junior Eurovision debut in Amsterdam with Omar & Suada holding the honour of being Azerbaijan’s first representative, with the entry ‘Girls and Boys (Dünya Sənindir)’. During the final, they placed 11th overall in the competition with 49 points. After one more participation the following year, Azerbaijan took a break from the contest until returning in 2018 before taking another hiatus until 2021.
Last year the Caucasus nation selected Sona Azizova with, ‘One of Those Days’ for the Paris final. During the contest they placed 5th overall with 151 points. To date this remains Azerbaijan’s best ever result in the junior contest.
Do you want to see Azerbaijan participate in JESC 2022? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram, @escxtra on TikTok and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the Yerevan contest.