It’s set to host the Eurovision Song Contest final in May, but is Azerbaijan worth visiting as a tourist? And where is it anyway, Kristina Chetcuti asks.
Admit it. You did watch the Malta Eurovision this weekend even though it’s ‘Ma! How kitschy!’ What’s more you’ll soon be so brainwashed that in the shower you’ll be catching yourself whistling the winning ditty. In the words of Cliff Richard: congratulations, you’ve been hooked.
In case you’re tempted to join in the Eurovision fever fun, at least you now know there’s more chance that you’d land in an oil field than a potato field
You will know by now that this year, the chosen ‘ambassador’, who will be ‘raising the hopes of the nation’ and ‘doing Malta proud’, will be ‘flying the Maltese flag’ in a place none other than the country of Azerbaijan.
Pause and rewind: Azerba-where? While lugging out the atlas my, ahem, geography-savvy friends put me in the picture:
“It’s that place, where Borat’s from.”
“It’s somewhere far flung, next to China or something.”
“How can they afford to put up the Eurovision? They’re all poor farmers.”
“And the men there wear synthetic grey suits and grey ties, and the women wear aprons and scarves and have footballers’ calves.”
“I think their airport is in the middle of a potato field, oh, how will our winner cope?”
If the Azerbaijani tourism ministry is reading this, it’s going to cost the marketing man his job. Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen’s satirical fictional journalist (who travelled round the US interviewing Americans, who believe he is a foreigner with no understanding of American customs) was in fact, from nearby Kazakhstan.
Borat’s tongue-in-cheek film was banned by all Arab countries and the Russian government discouraged cinemas from showing it there. But in Azerbaijan it was a different story: in the film, the real life Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyeva, stands in for the President of Kazakhstan.
From this we can deduct two things: either that the Azerbaijanis have an acute sense of humour or they’d do anything for one minute of Hollywood fame. Which one is it?
I ask last year’s Malta Eurovision winner, One Life Glen, what he thinks, seeing as he’s good friends with Eli/Nikki the Azerbaijani power pop duo winners out of the 43 participating countries in Azerbaijan.
“Tal-genn hi, they were extremely genuine – friendly on and off the camera, unlike some of the others. And fame certainly hasn’t gone to their head: we’re still in touch to this day,” says Glen.
They came to Malta, sang on Xarabank, the Maltese men fell in love with blonde, curvy Nikki, and on the semi-final night last May, we gave them the famous douze points. And even though Glen’s tour didn’t take him there, they reciprocated: Azerbaijan gave Malta seven points.
This is of supreme importance for a nation like ours – we still bear a grudge for Macedonia for not giving our Chiara any points back in 1998. And seven points is not bad at all considering Azerbaijan’s ‘neighbours Russia to the north, Georgia and Armenia to the west. Only its southern neighbour – Iran – doesn’t take part in the Eurovision (so far).
It’s very clear therefore, that this eagle-shaped country, about three times the size of Sicily, is at the world’s back of beyond. Who on earth would ever go there?
“I’ve been there,” e-mails my friend James. Trust a Gozitan. He says there’s two sides to Azerbaijan: “In the mountains there are villages which are totally cut off even from the electricity grid: they have to use a generator to watch television. But Baku, the capital city is so industrial, it’s like an environmental holocaust.”
The people, he said, don’t speak much English but are laidback and friendly: “If you’re walking through their village, they think nothing of putting up an impromptu song and dance, with their homemade instruments. And although predominantly Muslim, the religious attitude is very much live and let live.”
He took a liking to the country, saying it was by far more ‘advanced’ than the neighbouring Georgia and Armenia. But it could also be because it tugged at his inner island nostalgia: “Everyone wears a suit – even farmers. It felt like Gozo in the 1950s.”
He was most impressed by parts of its volcanic landscape, unique to the world: “Scientists compare it to the landscape of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.”
Azerbaijan has been famed for its oil springs and natural gas sources since ancient times. In 1848, the world’s first oil well was drilled south of Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital city. Today it supplies half the world’s oil. It is, technically, a very rich country, but it’s a country which has been through a lot of unrest.
It gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, after 70 years. But then, war broke out with the Nagorno-Karabakh region – the Armenians there wanted to secede from Azerbaijan. Ceasefire was signed in 1994 but parts of Azerbaijan’s territory remain occupied.
That same year, Azerbaijan signed what it called the ‘contract of the century’ with a consortium of international oil companies for the exploration and exploitation of oil fields. Azerbaijani oil is now flowing through a pipeline running from Baku through Georgia to Turkey, from where it supplies us in the west.
Western companies have invested millions in the development of the country’s oil and gas reserves yet, the economy has not benefited as much as it might have done: 32 per cent are unemployed and about one in four find even “purchasing clothes is a big problem”. Also, Reporters Without Borders, rank Azerbaijan 152nd, out of 178 countries, for press freedom.
The political scenario is wonting: a recent poll by independent pollster Populus, found that President Aliyev has an incredulous approval rating of 96 per cent. It is unlikely that participants were totally overwhelmed by economic growth and political stability in the country.
The truth is that Mr Aliyev has been Prime Minister since 2003 after taking over from his father, who dominated the country for more than 30 years. The country’s electoral process raises eyebrows in the West and very recently, the constitution was conveniently amended to allow a president to sit for the third term.
Still, the government is investing millions in an attempt to improve Azerbaijan’s image in the West, which explains the slick adverts on BBC World and lavish trips organised for journalists.
International designer Tom Ford has been roped in, calling Azerbaijan “the Dubai of the Caspian sea” and opening a women’s wear flagship shop in Baku, last autumn.
Plus, there’s the lure of the country’s oil baths: they have so much of the black stuff that people have even started to take bathe in it. Spa treatments in the thick oil are sprouting everywhere and said to be a curative treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (the oil is so thick that it has to be scraped off you at the end of the session).
Of course, the final clinch to showcase Azerbaijan to the world, is the upcoming Eurovision contest in May.
In case you’re tempted to join in the Eurovision fever fun, round trips cost between €500 to €900 and it’s a five-hour trip from Frankfurt to Baku. At least now you know, that there’s more chance that you’d land in an oil field than in a potato field.