Last Updated: April 15, 2023, 17:18 IST
Footage confirmed a person snatching Azerbaijan’s flag from a flag-bearer and setting it on hearth. (AFP Photo)
Azerbaijan’s ministry of youth and sports activities stated in a joint assertion with the National Olympic Committee that it determined to deliver its athletes residence following what it described as a “barbaric act” on the ceremony
Azerbaijan stated Saturday it was withdrawing its athletes from a world weightlifting competitors hosted within the capital of rival Armenia after a flag-burning incident.
The two ex-Soviet Caucasus nations are locked in a decades-long dispute over Azerbaijan’s Armenian-majority area of Nagorno-Karabakh. They went to battle twice — within the Nineteen Nineties and most lately in 2020 — over the mountainous breakaway area.
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Footage from the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championships in Yerevan on Friday confirmed a person operating to the stage, snatching Azerbaijan’s flag from a flag-bearer and setting it on hearth.
Azerbaijan’s ministry of youth and sports activities stated in a joint assertion with the National Olympic Committee that it determined to deliver its athletes residence following what it described as a “barbaric act” on the ceremony.
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“In conditions when such an atmosphere of hatred prevails in Armenia, security is not ensured, the normal participation of Azerbaijani athletes in competitions is impossible due to the psychological pressure,” the assertion stated.
“Politicising sport is completely unacceptable,” it added, urging the European Weightlifting Federation to impose sanctions on Armenia.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the incident and known as on Armenia to “instantly deliver to justice” the person responsible.
Local media said Armenian police briefly detained the man responsible, designer Aram Nikolyan, and, according to his lawyer, he was released without charges.
Armenia’s ministry of education, science, culture and sports in a statement denied there were any risks for athletes taking part in the competition.
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“The incident that occurred during the opening ceremony, which was resolved very quickly, has nothing to do with guarantees of safety of the athletes,” it stated.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed)
