Your trusted source

Some time ago Azerbaijani media, citing People’s Artist of Azerbaijan Aygun Kazimova’s page in the social network, reported that she had allegedly rejected her prestigious Big Apple Music Awards and dismissed their invitation to the awards ceremony due in July of the current year because the organizers are Armenian. However, it eventually turned out that Kazimova was rejected the award in the same nomination where another People’s Artist of Azerbaijan, Brilliant Dadasheva, had earlier been awarded. So, she ended up spreading all sorts of rumors about the Big Apple Music Awards organizers, Azerbaijani media outlet Moderator.az writes.

According to the article, Gulshan Kurbanbayeva sent an open letter to the Azerbaijani press expressing her regret that the topic was still being actively discussed on the Azerbaijani information platforms.

“Last year Brilliant Dadasheva was a Big Apple Awards winner. Later we got an application-offer from Aygun Kazimova to take part in the competition and approved it. Notably, she sent the completed application form of the contest from her personal e-mail and even thanked that her application was approved. However, she later declared that she also wanted to get an award in the same nomination as Brilliant Dadasheva. We calmly explained to her that it was impossible as that nomination was designed only for traditional music performers. Sadly, the angered singer, who apparently could not repeat Dadasheva’s success, started to spread rumors about our Awards,” the representative of the Awards said. She added that if some young star behaved like that, they would try to understand her, yet the 45-year-old Azerbaijani singer’s intention to achieve her aim using such methods was neither comprehensible nor acceptable.

Remarkably, Kazimova’s producer, Tarikh Aliyev, in an interview to Azerbaijani media outlet Qafqazinfo, flatly denied the statements of the letter. He went on claiming that the Azerbaijani singer will not take part in the Awards because of the Armenian organizers, and threatened to fly to the US and ‘clear up all the matters with that Kurbanbayeva.’

People's Artist of Azerbaijan Brilliant Dadashova had become an object of severe criticism after the media spread information according to which the singer was honored with Big Apple Music Awards: the award was organized by an Armenian company working in the US.

Earlier, in 2009, a questioning took place in Azerbaijan of everyone who had dared to vote for the Armenian representatives in Eurovision Song Contest. Then the Turkish singer Hadise also became the target of Azerbaijani hysteria because of her brave position concerning the issue of the Armenia-Turkey border opening.

It is also remarkable that the Azerbaijani media write that the recent period has seen an increase of articles and stories about Armenia and the Armenians in the press of the country that contain insults, obscene language and unflattering remarks. In early November 2014, the head of the Department of expertise, programming and analytics of the National Television and Radio Council of Azerbaijan, Tavakyul Dadashev, called on Azerbaijani media to go on using insults in the articles about Armenia as much as possible.

Recently calls to ‘keep away’ from the Armenians yet another time were voiced in the Azerbaijani media, and even a most insignificant contact with the Armenians was characterized as ‘criminal collaboration against the interests of Azerbaijan.’ Moreover, the cultural representatives who had ever taken a photo with an Armenian and posted the selfie on the social networks were sharply criticized.

Related:

Azerbaijani singer faces criticism in homeland because of selfie with Georgian and Armenian nationals

Another ‘‘Armenian scandal’’ boils up in Azerbaijan; this time bullying victim became folk singer

Azerbaijan's Attack On Eurovision Voters and Hadise

Yeni Musavat: Armenophobia becomes nation-wide activity in Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan they call to make abusive speeches on air addressed to Armenia