Baku completes Eurovision arena amid human rights abuse reports

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan announced on Monday, April 16 the completion in its capital, Baku, of a sparkling new 25,000-capacity arena for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – but rights workers say scores of families were kicked out of their homes to make way for it, RIA Novosti reported.

“Hundreds of people were evicted from the adjacent territory in complete contradiction of Azerbaijani law,” said Giorgi Gogia, senior South Caucasus researcher for Human Rights Watch, an international rights watchdog.

“They forced us to leave illegally,” former Flag Square resident Natalia Alibekova told RIA Novosti by telephone. “They took the roof off our building while we were still living there, when it was around minus 15 [degrees Celsius].”

Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, head of Baku’s Eurovision organizing committee, told the Trend news agency last month that no one was removed from their home to make way for the construction of the Crystal Hall arena, which sits on the shores of the Caspian Sea. She also accused critics of seeking revenge for Azerbaijan’s success at the 2011 Eurovision.

But Gogia accused Azerbaijani officials of wordplay. “The arena was built on empty land, but the people were evicted for the nearby necessary infrastructure,” he said.

The former Soviet republic gained the right to host this May’s Eurovision at the 2011 event in Düsseldorf. An oil- and gas-rich Azerbaijan is looking to Eurovision to trumpet its achievements. A TV audience of about 125 million viewers from 42 countries is expected for the event.

But with the world media due to descend on Baku for the May 26 final, opposition groups have pledged to hold rallies to highlight what Amnesty International has called the country’s "unsavory” record on human rights.

Neighboring Armenia announced last month it would not be attending the Baku Eurovision.