After all the semi final auditions held in Baku, national broadcaster İçtimai TV reported that Azerbaijan is now ready for the final show of Milli Seçim Turu. The submission period of the songs has started.
İçtimai TV announced that both national and foreign composers are welcome to submit their songs to the final stage of Eurovision Song Contest which will be held in Düsseldorf this year. An expert jury will decide upon the number of participating songs.
It was expected that the 10 names listed below would be participating at the final but İçtimai TV announced that another semifinal will be held, thus eleminating 5 names from the list:
-
Chingiz Mustafayev
- Nurlan Növresli
- Günay Ibrahimli
- Nikola Barkley
- Arzum Xelilova
- Aynishan Guliyeva
- Ilqara Ibrahimova
- Eldar Gasimov
- Ilhame Gasimova
- Nigar Jamal
According to Azeri news agency APA, Nicola Barkley who was given a wildcard without participating in any semifinal because of her illness, has withdrawn from the selection heats following a new
decision by İçtimai TV in the run up to Düsseldorf. Barkley clamied that any possible Azeri song wouldn’t be easy for her to learn in the native language. As a result of her statement, İçtimai TV confirmed that "We got in touch with her and understood that she would be unable to join the selection heats. Nicola Barkley can take part in our selection heats next year. This news has upset her a great deal."
An extra heat will be held tonight on 18.00 CET and it will be televised by İçtimai TV. The grand final will be held on the 2nd of February.
