Azerbaijan withdraws from the European Weightlifting Championships.
At the opening of the European Weightlifting Championships in Armenia, a confusing situation was witnessed when a male person on the spot grabbed the flag from a woman carrying the Azerbaijan flag and set it on fire. This is reported by the news agency Reuters, among others.
Working in a television company Aram Nikolyan was arrested but later released without charge.
Nikolyan had designed the costumes for the flag bearers at the ceremony.
– My only wish was to make sure that the Azerbaijani flag does not fly in Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia, Nikolyan said of his plan, according to Reuters.
The two countries have had a hostile relationship since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. The countries have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but most of its population is ethnic Armenians.
As a result of the incident, Azerbaijan’s national weightlifting team received an order from the country’s government to withdraw from the Games before they could properly begin.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Sports and the National Olympic Committee condemned the act as “barbaric” and evidence of ethnic hatred. According to the country, Armenia is unable to guarantee the safety of athletes at the Games
Media company The Azeri Times reported that the team had already booked return tickets, but Armenian authorities prevented them from leaving their hotel, citing “security issues”.
European Printing Association EWF condemned in his announcement (you will switch to another service) opening brawl.
– We consider this a very serious and regrettable attack against the values of sport and the principles of fair play.
In its press release, EWF also demanded “additional guarantees to guarantee the safety of all participants” from the race organizers.
– We are sorry that the participants from Azerbaijan had to leave the competition, but at the same time we respect it. We were directly involved in ensuring security conditions until the team left Armenia, EWF writes.
In addition, the press release stated that the European Printing Association is considering further measures due to the incident.
Finland will participate in Yerevan from the 15th to the 23rd. to the games held in April with a team of ten athletes. Competed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 Anni Vuohijoki end his career for those Games.