The victory in the Eurovision song contest has provided a unique opportunity for Azerbaijan to promote its culture and tourism to the world. While the international community thinks the victory should encourage the country to improve its human rights record, domestic observes do not rule out that it could be used for political benefits in the 2013 presidential elections.

Hundreds of people left their houses at the night of May 14 and gathered in downtown Baku to celebrate the small former Soviet republic’s unexpected victory in the Eurovision song contest. Ignoring heavy rain, they danced and chanted "Azerbaijan! Azerbaijan!" Convoys of cars filled with fans waving Azerbaijani flags came to greet Ell (Eldar Gasimov) and Nikki (Nigar Jamal) at Baku airport the day after.

Their song "Running Scared" was voted the best of 25 competitors at the final in Düsseldorf, Germany. Fans in many participating countries have often highlighted the role of geopolitics in Eurovision voting. However, as many observed, the results of this year's final told a different story. The Azerbaijani duo received the highest 12 to 10 points from Russia, Turkey, Malta, Ukraine, Greece, Croatia, San-Marino, Romania and Moldova.

In a statement on his website, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said that winning the pop music contest was “a great success of the Azerbaijani state and people”. Gasimov commented to journalists that “it is not only our victory, but also a victory for the entire Azerbaijani people, the whole Turkic world. May 14 is a red letter day in the history of Azerbaijan”. Jamal was seen celebrating the victory by waving a Turkish flag on stage. Turkish President Abdullah Gül sent a letter to his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev in which he said he was delighted by Turkey’s “friend and brother” Azerbaijan winning the song contest. Domestic observers even stated that it was victory of the Azerbaijani and Turkic Diasporas over the Armenian one.

Thanks to Azerbaijan’s victory, Baku will host next year’s Eurovision competition, scheduled to take place May 22-26. Eurovision is the most watched non-sport event in the world, with audience figures counting hundreds of millions. This will provide Azerbaijan with a possibility to market itself beyond its existing image as an exporter of oil and gas to Europe. Simultaneously, it is a chance to attract the international community’s attention to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries fought a war over the enclave in 1992 after the break-up of the Soviet Union, leaving around 25,000 killed, over 4,000 missing and about one million refugees.

“The Azerbaijani nation deserves a victory. I cannot experess my happyness by words. We are able to gain more and more victories. If we celebrate the victory in a song contest with such hapiness, I can imagine how grandiose the celebration would be of our victory in Karabakh”, said a woman refugee from the Lachin dictrict, which is now under occupation by Armenian troops.

In a letter of gratitude for the support of Azerbaijanis abroad, the State Committee responsible for Diaspora issues stated that “Azerbaijan’s victory in the Eurovision song contest demonstrated our unity and solidarity and if we are united we are able to reach the highest achievements. As President Aliyev says, “our strength is our unity”. In addition, the letter pointed out that “it is, first of all, a demonstration of the great importance the Azerbaijani government attaches to culture and art”.

Ali Hasanov, head of the presidential administration’s political department, told 1news.az that the “the victory was not unexpected”. He went on to declare that it was a result of the “great attention” paid by the government and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation – headed by First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva – to the development of youth and culture.

“Under the leadership of Ilham Aliyev the whole spiritual life of Azerbaijan has regenerated, the culture and music world have been developing in a dynamic way, we pay great attention to youth and it is natural to see a positive result of this”, Hasanov stated. “In a true sense, this is a victory for the entire Azerbaijani people, which was led by the country’s President and his team”.

Hasanov’s statement reflects a common view among government officials, who frequently acknowledge the “political importance” of the victory in the run-up to the 2013 presidential elections and are doing their best to use it in their political favor.

On May 19, President Aliyev appointed his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva as head of the Organizational Committee responsible for organizing Eurovision 2012 in Baku.

In a meeting with the winning duo on May 16, President Aliyev highlighted the role of the First Lady by saying that “The initiator of our participation in Eurovision was the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and, in particular, Mehriban khanum. We joined this contest on her initiative and in the course of all recent years, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation … and other structures worked very actively. Each year we have been approaching this victory closer and closer”. The president characterized the victory as “a triumph of the country”.

Observers believe that Azerbaijan's oil incomes will allow Aliyev’s dynasty to successfully organize the international contest. As a Russian TV anchor said that “Azerbaijan will show Europe how the contest should be. It will be definitely be cool”.

However, the cultural and organizational performance of Azerbaijan sits uneasily with the country’s human rights record. The international community expects that the government will use this chance to display not only the country’s cultural values, but also that it adheres to European democratic values. In a May 16 statement Roland Kobia, head of the European Union delegation to Azerbaijan, called the 2012 event “a golden opportunity for Azerbaijan to show to the world the resolute and sweeping modernization of its society”.