Azerbaijan Sport Journalists Association issues statement on burning of Azerbaijani flag in Yerevan

The Azerbaijan Sport Journalists Association has issued a statement on the burning of the flag of Azerbaijan during the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championship in Yerevan.

According to Report, the statement reads:

"Dear all,

"We are writing to express our shock and outrage because of burning of the national flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championship in Yerevan yesterday.

"Sport is an important part of our lives as we cover various sport events both in our country as well as abroad. We know sport is about records and competing. It is about the joy of victory and the pain of defeat. Still, there is another unique dimension making sport so valuable. It offers a rather unique way for people to communicate even when all other communication channels are unavailable. Sport is the true messenger and purveyor of peace. This is what the Olympics are all about.

"What happened in Yerevan yesterday is preposterous. Such a blatant show of disrespect of the core values of any sport tournament is simply unacceptable.

"The Azerbaijani national team traveled to Yerevan following thorough discussion on our athlete’s participation. It is well known that relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia leave a lot to be desired. Aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan since the end of 80-s followed by 30 years of occupation of our lands condemned by the UN Security Council resolutions turned almost 20% of our country’s territory into ruins and minefields. However, having liberated our lands in 2020 we are making efforts to build lasting peace in the region. Our authorities trusted the assurances of the event organizers who have repeatedly guaranteed that the championship in Yerevan will be free of hatred and prejudice. As we know today, those were empty promises.

"As unbecoming as it was, our flag’s desecration in Armenia is hardly shocking. Years of hatred cultivated in the Armenian society against Azerbaijan and its citizens left a deep mark in Armenia. It is because of them a barbarian who somehow turned out to be among the accredited event organizers set our flag on fire. It is the because of the same hatred 2 Azerbaijani soldiers carrying no weapons who lost their way in poor weather and got detained by the Armenian authorities were beaten and humiliated earlier this week.

"Azerbaijan is hosting major international sport events regularly. We covered them all, including competitions with participation of Armenian athletes. No such repugnant events ever happened in our country. It is the organizers’ responsibility to make sure athletes can do what they travel to tournaments for – compete and enjoy the true spirit of sport.

"We are appealing to the international community to condemn the abominable episode which occurred at the opening of the European Weightlifting Championship in Yerevan. We, the sport journalists of Azerbaijan, want to be able to do our job bringing the joy of sport to our spectators."