Azerbaijan announced the withdrawal of its athletes from the European Weightlifting Championships this Saturday, April 15, 2023, following an incident where its flag was burned during the opening ceremony held in Yerevan, Armenia . ” In conditions where such an atmosphere of hatred prevails in Armenia, where security is not ensured, the normal participation of Azerbaijani athletes in competitions is impossible due to psychological pressure “, said the Azerbaijani Ministry of Sports in a statement. ” The incident during the opening ceremony, which was resolved very quickly, has nothing to do with the guarantees of the safety of the athletes “, assured for its part the Armenian Ministry of Sports. The two nations have been embroiled in a decades-long conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and have gone to war twice, in the 1990s and most recently in 2020.