Epress.am News from Armenia
A video uploaded online in January this year has resulted in a number of reports recently published by Azerbaijani online news sites.
In the video, Armenian singer Vle Khaloyan (an ethnic Yezidi) is seen singing the popular song “The Key to My Heart” in a Mosow restaurant. Joining him halfway through the song is Azerbaijani singer Tajir Şamlıoğlu, who continues the song in his native language. Then Khaloyan hugs and kisses his Azerbaijani colleague, who then takes his seat while Khaloyan continues the song.
On this matter, Aze.az writes, “The performance of the Azerbaijani singer from Nagorno-Karabakh with the Armenian singer has shocked the Azerbaijan public.”
Şamlıoğlu, in an interview with Yeni Musavat, said the event took place on Jan. 1, 2011: “”On the worldwide Azerbaijani Solidarity Day, I received an invitation to attend an evening at the Prestige restaurant in Moscow — but on websites, the restaurant is incorrectly called Odjakh [“Hearth”]. The restaurant where I was belongs to Azeri businessman Nazim.
“During the event it became clear that there were people of different ethnicities present. The event was attended by Kurds and Armenians. The Armenian singer sang our song in his language and presented it as an Armenian song. I couldn’t have acted differently.
“I, as a man who represents our nation’s culture, sang the song in Azeri. They say culture is the highest policy, and based on this logic, I responded to them, by singing the song in my native tongue. It wouldn’t have been right on my part had I not responded to them. Singing the song in a civilized way in Azeri, I responded to the other side.”