Armenia and Azerbaijan are sworn enemies, locked into a bitter stalemate over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Around 25,000 people died and a million were forced to flee their homes by fighting between the two former Soviet republics in the early 1990s. Lasting peace remains elusive, despite a ceasefire agreement signed in 1994. Scores of conscripts die each year in cross-border skirmishes, but recently the conflict has moved to a new and unlikely battleground – the Eurovision Song Contest.
The kitsch and glitzy music competition has had its fair share of scandals since its inception in 1956, despite the original intention to draw countries from the European Broadcast Union (EBU) closer together. However, the recent inclusion of post-Soviet states has taken national rivalry to new heights.
