Last May, Ell & Nikki, an obscure duo from Azerbaijan, won the2011 Eurovision Song Contest . The country s President, Ilham Aliyev, treated the musical winlike a military triumph, describing it as a victory for thepeople of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani state. By winning thepan-European singing contest which, kitschy as it is, unites theregion like little else Azerbaijan s capital city, Baku, earnedthe right to host this year s show, which will be broadcast tomore than 100 million people at the end of May. As I point out in my story " Selling Azerbaijan ," which was printed in the May 14 international editions ofTIME, Eurovision presents a massive opportunity for Azerbaijan toshowcase itself to the world. Despite Azerbaijan s post-Sovieteconomic success it has reduced poverty from 50% in 2001 to just7.6% today international critics remain wary of trumpeting itsachievements. Instead, they describe it as an autocracy with littlerespect for human rights . Its President, whose father was also President, abolished termlimits via a widely disputed referendum in 2009. The Human Rights House Foundation described the country s most recent elections in 2010 as a farce.According to Amnesty International , police beat and imprisoned two musicians after they insulted thePresident s mother during their performance at a peaceful proteston March 17. And the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a human-rightsNGO, says about 70 people are in jail for political reasons where many are allegedly tortured. ( MORE: How Armenia and Azerbaijan Wage War Through Eurovision ) Azerbaijan, which only obtained independence from the Soviet Unionin 1991, disputes these charges. Officials say that as a youngcountry Azerbaijan is still developing its democracy. Nonetheless,Aliyev is spending good money to ensure that corruption , repression and autocracy aren t the first words that come to mind when you think aboutAzerbaijan. That promotion includes passing out books on Azericarpets along with Azeri-branded USB drives to delegates at therecent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; opening AzeriFriendship Parks in Mexico and Bosnia; erecting a 220-ton, 162-mflagpole in Baku in May 2010 the world's tallest at thetime; and, according to investigative journalists , budgeting at least $277 million to host Eurovision 2012.Azerbaijan is also bidding for the 2020 Olympic Games, it has plansto build the world's tallest skyscraper , tentatively named the Azerbaijan Tower, and it works withlobbyists and consulting firms around Europe to help build supportamong foreign governments. "Its wealth has encouraged theinternational community to buy into the myth of a young democracymaking slow and steady progress," says John Dalhuisen, thedirector of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asiaprogram. Fakhraddin Gurbanov, Azerbaijan's ambassador to the U.K.,believes that many commentators resent Azerbaijan because of itseconomic success and its vast oil and gas revenues. He says thatthey, in conjunction with some mass-media outlets, want to create anegative image of Azerbaijan to mar its moment in the sun."Maybe we shall meet after Eurovision. Will there be the same[negative] attention towards Azerbaijan? I doubt it," hesays. Gurbanov remains confident that those who attend Eurovisionwill see the country in a whole new light. "There is a verygood saying: it is better to see something once than to hear aboutit a hundred times." MORE: Selling Azerbaijan Adams is a staff writer at the London bureau of TIME . Find him on Twitter at @willyleeadams or on Facebook . You can also continue the discussion on TIME s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME . We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Desktop Switching Power Supply , Constant Current Led Drivers Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits AC DC Switching Power Supply.
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