Emotions were running high last night as is always the case following a semi-final. But things took a turn for the worse in the winners’ press conference with some politically charged questions raised by the press. One such incident raised was that of Armenia’s representative, Iveta Mukuchyan, holding the flag of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh during the semi-final results as shown in the image above.
This incident saw both Armenian and Azeri journalists asking questions and making heated statements about the move. The EBU, following these exchanges, have made a statement, found below.
The EBU and the Reference Group, the governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest, strongly condemn the brandishing of the Nagorno-Karabak
The Reference Group has decided to sanction Armenian broadcaster, AMPTV, in accordance with the Rules. The nature of the sanction will be determined, at the latest, by the next Reference Group meeting in June.
We are acutely aware of the tense situation in the Nagorno-Karabak
Furthermore, the EBU has imposed a zero-tolerance policy towards the Armenian delegation with regards to breaching the Rules of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, in particular in relation to the aforementioned incident.
The Reference Group wishes to point out that any further breach of the Rules of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest could lead to disqualificatio
Earlier today, Iveta made the following Facebook post about the incident;
The Armenian broadcaster ARMTV so far has not made any statement.
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