Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 30 January 2009, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals. Azerbaijan was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 14 May 2009.^[21] The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 16 March 2009 and Azerbaijan was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Hungary and before the entry from Greece.^[22]

The two semi-finals and final were broadcast in Azerbaijan on İTV with commentary by Leyla Aliyeva, who was joined by AySel for the first semi-final and Isa Melikov for the final.^[23] The Azerbaijani spokesperson, who announced the Azerbaijani votes during the final, was Husniyya Maharramova.

AySel and Arash took part in technical rehearsals on 6 and 9 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May.^[24][25] Their second technical rehearsal was also attended by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.^[26]

The Azerbaijani performance featured AySel and Arash dressed in outfits designed by Lars Wallin performing a choreographed routine with three dancers; AySel was in a white, gold and silver dress with white and black Swarovski crystals.^[26][27] The performance began with AySel and Arash on top of a metal pedestal with adjacent stairs, after which they went down to the stage floor via the stairs to join the dancers. During the instrumental part of the song, Arash played the tar.^[28] The LED screens displayed red and yellow colours as well as erupting volcanoes and drums and the performance also incorporated pyrotechnics, which included flames and fireworks.^[29] The performance was directed by Roine Söderlundh.^[30]

At the end of the show, Azerbaijan was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Azerbaijan placed second in the semi-final, receiving a total of 180 points.^[31]

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine the running order for the final. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Azerbaijan was drawn to perform in position 11, following the entry from Russia and before the entry from Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[32]

AySel and Arash once again took part in dress rehearsals on 15 and 16 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. The duo performed a repeat of their semi-final performance during the final on 16 May. At the conclusion of the voting, Azerbaijan finished in third place with 207 points.^[33] After the contest, Azerbaijan became the winner of the fourth Annual ESC Radio Awards in the category of the Best Group.^[34]

The voting system for 2009 involved each country awarding points from 1-8, 10 and 12, with the points in the final being decided by a combination of 50% national jury and 50% televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Azerbaijan had placed second with the public televote and eighth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Azerbaijan scored 253 points, while with the jury vote, Azerbaijan scored 112 points.^[35]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Azerbaijan and awarded by Azerbaijan in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Norway in the semi-final and to Turkey in the final of the contest.

Detailed voting results from Azerbaijan (Final)^[35][38]

R/O	Country	Results			Points
		Jury	Televoting	Combined
01	Lithuania		4	4	1
02	Israel
03	France
04	Sweden
05	Croatia	8		8	5
06	Portugal
07	Iceland
08	Greece		2	2
09	Armenia
10	Russia	3	7	10	6
11	Azerbaijan
12	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5		5	2
13	Moldova	7	5	12	7
14	Malta	1		1
15	Estonia		6	6	4
16	Denmark
17	Germany
18	Turkey	12	12	24	12
19	Albania		3	3
20	Norway	4	10	14	8
21	Ukraine	10	8	18	10
22	Romania	6		6	3
23	United Kingdom	2	1	3
24	Finland
25	Spain

After the finish of Eurovision 2009, some Belarusian media reported that unknown people allegedly paid Belarusian students to vote for Azerbaijan, and supposedly even transported them to the Belarusian-Lithuanian border in 10 buses. The cost of whole action is claimed to be about 55 million roubles.^[39] They voted for Azerbaijan with the help of Belarusian SIM cards and then received Lithuanian cards to do the same. "Always" received high votes from Belarus (10) and Lithuania (5), being even ahead of Russia in Belarus. The head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Belarus, which numbers tens of thousands of people,^[40] Natik Baghirov said that he did not know anything about the action, and that the song received support from the entire Europe, not just Belarus and Lithuania, while Sergey Malinovsky, Belorussian jury member of the Eurovision, openly doubted that such vote irregularity could take place, and believed that the Azerbaijani song received public support because of its catchy melody and good performance.^[39][41][42] However, European Radio for Belarus had an unofficial confirmation from the Minsk auto parks that they do it every year for various countries.^[39][41]

Following the protests of Azerbaijani officials, Eurovision's Russian hosts removed from the video of the Armenian performers the image of the monument We Are Our Mountains, which is located in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.^[43] In response, the edited image was used as a background by Armenian Public Television during the announcement of the voting results in Armenia.

Azerbaijan's reel depicted Maqbaratoshoara and Segonbad monuments, the symbols of the cities of Tabriz and Urumieh in the Azerbaijan region of Iran.^[44] The Armenian media have complained that while Eurovision forbade demonstration of the Armenian monument located in Nagorno-Karabakh region after the protest of Azerbaijani government, it allowed the inclusion of the Iranian monuments.^[45][46]

In August 2009, a number of Azerbaijanis who had voted for Armenia's entry during the contest were called in for questioning at the Ministry of National Security in Baku, during which they were accused of being "unpatriotic" and "a potential security threat".^[47] One of those questioned later said that he was told by his interrogators that they had the names and addresses of 43 Azerbaijanis who had voted for Armenia.^[48]