The participation of Azerbaijan in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest first began at the tenth edition of the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest The Junior Eurovision Song Contest (often shortened to JESC, Junior Eurovision or Junior EuroSong) is an international song competition which has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) annually since 2003. It is held in a diff ...

in which took place in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

İctimai Television İctimai Television ( , “Public Television”), or İTV, is a public television channel in Azerbaijan. It officially began broadcasting on 29 August 2005 after being created by law in the beginning of 2004, as the first independent public broa ...

(İTV), a member organisation of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(EBU), were responsible for the selection process of their participation. Azerbaijan originally used a national final format for their participation at the 2012 contest. The first representatives to participate for the nation at the 2012 contest were Omar & Suada with the song "Girls and Boys ()", which finished in eleventh place out of twelve participating entries. After participating for a second time in 2013 and finishing seventh, İTV withdrew from the contest in 2014 for unspecified reasons. The country returned to participate in 2018 where they placed sixteenth in a field of twenty, before withdrawing once again for a further two years. Azerbaijan returned to the 2021 contest in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, with İTV internally selected Sona Azizova to represent the nation with "One Of Those Days". Azizova achieved Azerbaijan's highest placing to date, achieving fifth place in a field of 19. İTV then withdrew again from the 2022 contest in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and are yet to return.

History

Pre-participation

İctimai Television initially intended make a debut for Azerbaijan in the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children. It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and hoste ...

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

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and were set to participate, with the broadcaster to organise a national final order to select the country's representative. However, in October 2008 the broadcaster withdrew from participation, citing a lack of candidates for the national selection. İTV later paid a fine to the EBU for the late withdrawal, with the aim to participate the following year. After broadcasting the contest for the first time in 2007, the broadcaster did still screen the contest on its first public channel in 2008. İTV showed no public interest in participating in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, but did broadcast the contest once again. In 2010,

Vladimir Arzumanyan Vladimir Arzumanyan ( hy, Վլադիմիր Արզումանյան; born 26 May 1998 in Stepanakert, Republic of Artsakh) is an Armenian singer. He represented Armenia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the entry Mama (Մամա). I ...

, a singer from Nagorno-Karabakh representing Armenia, won the contest. It was alleged by Armenian media outlets that the broadcast of the contest in Azerbaijan was interrupted when it became apparent that Armenia had won due to the strained

political relations Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

between the two countries. These claims were disputed by AMPTV director and Eurovision head of delegation Diana Mnatsakanyan, who also denied reports that the country was preparing to file a complaint with the EBU over the matter. She noted that the broadcaster did not know whether Azerbaijan even aired the contest at all, given that the country had not yet participated in the Junior Eurovision and had "no interest" in it at the time, and that reports about the alleged incident were limited to posts on Azerbaijani Internet forums. Azerbaijan showed no interest in participating in the 2011 contest in

Participation

In September 2012, İctimai Television officially confirmed that they would participate for the first time at the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the tenth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It took place at the AFAS Live, Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 1 December 2012. Dutch broadcaster AVRO (broadcaster), AV ...

, the

. The broadcaster determined its debut representative via a national final in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

on 9 October 2012. The event resulted in the selection Omar & Suada as a duet act for the country, with the song "Girls and Boys" internally selected by the broadcaster and released on 16 October 2012. The song was initially released fully in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

, which went against the then-rules of the contest which stated that 75% of the track had to be performed in the native language of the country. The EBU gave İTV a two-day window to change the lyrics without disqualification. At the contest, Azerbaijan finished in 11th place out of 12 with 49 points. Azerbaijan participated for a second time in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. On 9 October 2013, it was reported that the Azerbaijani broadcaster

decided to internally select their 2013 artist with auditions held in the Rashid Behbudov Second Music School in

. On 1 November 2013, İctimai revealed that 10-year-old Rustam Karimov would represent Azerbaijan. The title of the song was revealed to be "Me and My Guitar", and the song was presented to the public on 5 November 2013. Karimov finished in 7th place out of 12 with 66 points. For the 2014 contest, Azerbaijan did not appear on the list of participating countries, with İTV withdrawing from the contest for unspecified reasons. The broadcaster did not participate again for a further three contests. On 18 July 2018, Ivan Eismont, the Director General of BTRC (host broadcaster of the 2018 contest) stated that Azerbaijan were eager to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

. The head of the Azerbaijani Junior Eurovision delegation later stated that while they wanted to return to the contest, participation was not yet confirmed. On 25 July 2018, İTV officially confirmed their return to the contest in 2018, as well as that their entry would be internally selected. Fidan Huseynova was officially announced as the third Azerbaijani representative on 18 September 2018, with the selected entry "I Wanna Be Like You" released on 16 October 2018. At the contest, Azerbaijan finished in 16th place out of 20 countries, with 47 points. Following the 2018 contest, İctimai opted not to participate at the 2019 contest in

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional cap ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

for unspecified reasons and did not return in 2020 either. In August 2021, İTV expressed their ambitions to return to the 2021 contest in

. On 16 August 2021, the broadcaster officially confirmed its return to the contest, as well as that Sona Azizova would represent the country. The broadcaster also opened a song submissions process for interested songwriters and composers to submit potential entries. These submissions were to be judged by a jury panel consisting of both Azerbaijani and international music experts to determine the nation's eventual entry. "One Of Those Days" was officially released as the Azerbaijani entry to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 on 17 November 2021. At the contest, Azizova achieved Azerbaijan's highest placing to date. The country placed 5th with 151 points, placing 4th with the professional juries and 15th in the online vote. During the Azerbaijani broadcast of the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 19th edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by France Télévisions and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The contest was held on 19 December 2021 at La Seine Musica ...

, commentators talked over the entirety of the performance of

Maléna Malena may refer to: People Professional name * Maléna (singer) (born 2007), Armenian singer Given name *Malena Ernman (born 1970), Swedish opera singer *Malena Alterio (born 1974), Argentine-born Spanish actress *Malena Josephsen (born 1977), ...

, the Armenian representative and eventual winner, which is in contravention with the rules of the contest. The EBU sought clarification from the Azerbaijani broadcaster İTV about the incident, but no response was received.

Withdrawal

After rumours that Azerbaijan would withdraw from the 2022 contest due to its hosting in Armenia, in January 2022, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation Eldar Rasulov stated that the country should continue to participate no matter where the contest is held. İTV later stated in August 2022 that they were still undecided around potential participation at the 2022 contest in

, but the country did not appear on the final list of participants, marking yet another withdrawal of Azerbaijan from the contest. It was later reported that Azerbaijan's absence from the 2022 contest was not for political reasons with host country Armenia, but a lack of requests from candidates in the 2022 edition of ''The Voice Kids Azerbaijan''. İctimai opted not to participate at the 2023 contest in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

either.

Participation overview

Commentators and spokespersons

The contests are broadcast online worldwide through the official Junior Eurovision Song Contest website junioreurovision.tv and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. In 2015, the online broadcasts featured commentary in English by junioreurovision.tv editor Luke Fisher and 2011 Bulgarian Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrant Ivan Ivanov. The Azerbaijani broadcaster, İTV, send their own commentary team to each contest in order to provide commentary in the

Azerbaijani language Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...

. Spokespersons were also chosen by the national broadcaster in order to announce the awarding points from Azerbaijan. The table below list the details of each commentator and spokesperson since 2012.

References

{{Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...