"The recent incident showed that the Armenians still don't want peace. They harbor hatred towards Azerbaijan," said Kanan Mastaliyev, spokesperson for the Azerbaijan Weightlifting Federation, Report informs.
The spokesman noted that after the flag was set on fire, it was decided to leave the country.
"Although the authorities of Armenia, the European and International Weightlifting Federations asked us to stay and continue participating in the competition," he said.
Mastaliyev stressed that the provocation was committed intentionally.
"At the time of the incident, there was a failure on the Internet. The episode of the burning of the flag was not shown live. We saw it on social networks shortly after the incident," he added.