Ilhama Guliyeva, khanende Alibaba Mammadov and Arif Babayev, People’s Artists of Azerbaijan192 condemned a young Azerbaijani singer who performed a mugham accompanied by an Armenian band of Armen Alexanyan in one of Moscow restaurants.
Arif Babayev, People’s Artist, presidential scholarship holder: This is very, very bad. As if it were not enough that they are stealing our national music, this incident is just too much. I personally would never perform with Armenians.
Ilhama Guliyeva, People’s Artist of Azerbaijan: I do not even want to discuss this matter. We must first find out what this is young girl’s ethnicity and why she committed such a deed. In general, I consider it to be a disgraceful fact for an Azerbaijani.
The social networks saw an onslaught of a harassment campaign against the Meritorious Artist of Azerbaijan Aybeniz Hashimova and her daughter Aynishan Guliyeva. Aynishan, whose father was killed in Karabakh war, represented Azerbaijan at Slavianski Bazaar-2011 song contest. As reported by the website Fаktxeber.соm, some information about Aynishan befriending Armenia’s representative Narek Margaryan surfaced on the Facebook network.
“She and her mother have even had themselves photographed with an Armenian. How can a shahid’s daughter who represents Azerbaijan befriend an Armenian?” says the website airing its indignation and reminding its readership that “it must be never forgotten that Armenians are the eternal enemies of Azerbaijanis”.193
A famous singer Tajir Shahmalioglu (Tасir Şаhmаlıоğlu) from the group Nightingales of Karabakh (Qаrаbаg Bulbulleri) became target of public verbal abuse and condemnation after the appearance of a music video where he sang a dual with an Armenian singer (who, as it transpired, was a Yezidi from Armenia, while Tajir himself is a Kurd)194 in one of the Moscow restaurants.
As a result, he was forced to justify himself and reiterate his aversion to Armenians in the press.195 <…> Tajir noted that he did not accept it when Azerbaijani singers performed together with Armenians: “This is just not right. About a year ago, I got a call from Moscow.
It was an Armenian. He told me that they were my fans and offered me a fee of 50 thousand dollars for singing at a wedding. I turned him down and said that I didn’t need his 50 thousand dollars, which I would receive for singing at an Armenian wedding. No matter if it is 100 thousand or 1 million, for me, it equals a penny. Up to this day, when I see images of shahids on TV, I can’t hold back my tears. If my elders deem it necessary in the future, I am ready to go into battle with an assault rifle on my shoulder. And I will give away my life for Azerbaijan”.
Target III. Marginalization of third persons who have contacts in both communities
This category covers singers, actors, political figures, writers and public figures at international or regional levels.
It must be noted that the Azerbaijani side keeps a very close and intent track of all references to Azerbaijan and Armenia on behalf of third persons and reacts sharply to any perceived tilting of the balance. A slightest slant in favor of Armenia is viewed at the western coast of the Caspian Sea as a mortification unleashing an instant response.
Apart from the well-known and repeatedly employed influencing techniques aimed at the domestic audience, other methods efficient in the given community are employed to discredit and marginalize the culprit going as far as to use fictitious evidence.
This happened, for instance, with the Iranian singer Googoosh who was caught singing a song in Armenian (the 60-year-old singer purportedly had an Armenian lover).
The Azerbaijani website Day.Az: We could unearth sensational details about the singer’s decision. These details were communicated by Mr. Salman Pishnamaz, an Iranian national and native of Tabriz, who organizes the tours of Iranian artists in Azerbaijan. “For 2 years, I have been negotiating with her over her tours in Azerbaijan, but she procrastinated all the time. Then I discovered the reason. It became known that her Armenian boyfriend didn’t allow her to go on tour if he couldn’t go with her. And so he said: “She is not going anywhere without me!” fully aware that I cannot invite him to Azerbaijan. Moreover, she preferred to go with him to Armenia. So Googoosh’s Armenian boyfriend didn’t allow her to visit your country”, told S. Pishnamaz in his interview to Day. Az.196
The Azerbaijani website 1news.az: A video has surfaced on the web which shows the famous Iranian singer Googoosh performing an Armenian song Zepyur Kdarnam. The Azerbaijani singer Yaqub Zurufcu declared that he severed all communication with Googoosh: “Now, she is of no interest to me. After this video appeared, we stopped talking. Today, her coming to Azerbaijan is out of the question.197
The Azerbaijani website Azeritоdаy.соm: To be honest, we must think twice whether we need the coming to Azerbaijan of a singer who disregards the fact that Azerbaijan is at war with Armenia and who has continued up to recent years to perform Azerbaijani songs in Armenian.198
Target IV. Countries and their services and goods boycotted by Azerbaijan for their cooperation with Armenians, with Armenia or for a disloyal attitude toward Azerbaijan
Recently, after the French Parliament passed a law criminalizing the negation of the so-called Armenian Genocide, one of popular Azerbaijani radio stations proudly announced that it was about to “stop the broadcasting” of all French songs. In addition, it informed that at the time of signing Armenian-Turkish protocols in Zurich, it had temporarily refrained from airing Turkish songs.199
In 2010, the broadcasting of TV channel Mir was stopped in Azerbaijan because the channel was airing a program entitled “Independence Day: Armenia”. The Azerbaijani cable television KA TV 1 notified its subscribers in Azerbaijan that the rebroadcasting of Mir TV channel on September 21 would be temporarily stopped between 4:05-4:25 p.m. by Baku time.200
The Russian website NR2.ru: The Netherlands company Kales Airline Services, which is a partner of Azerbaijan Hava Yollari (Azerbaijani airlines), was forced under the pressure from Baku to fire its ticket sales agent Mary Sargsyan only because she was Armenian.201
The Azerbaijani website ANS-Press: The online air ticket booking service OneTwоTrip started operating in May 2011 and can draw on a network of over 500 airline companies. The founders are Peter Kutis and Hovhannes Poghosyan. <…> It must be noted that there is a confirmed record of various Armenian products finding their way to the market of Azerbaijan. Thus, there have been repeated incidents of various victuals produced in Armenia (butter, coffee, etc.) appearing in our shops from unknown sources. Recently, there have been increasingly numerous cases of Armenian products permeating the Azerbaijani market. Competent authorities must tighten their control procedures to prevent similar cases in the future.202
The Azerbaijani website 1news.az: The research has revealed that 100 % of surveyed Azerbaijanis answered ‘No’ to the question of whether airline companies operating on the territory of Azerbaijan were entitled to sell tickets for their flights through companies belonging in whole or in part to Armenians.