Baku Will Start to 'Buzz' Around This Issue, Former Minister Says

During the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championship, an incident involving the flag will leave its mark on Armenia. Baku has been given a platform to voice its opinions, and it will undoubtedly take advantage of this, stated the former Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs of Armenia, Gabriel Ghazaryan, in an interview with Sputnik Armenia.

It was reported that during the opening ceremony of the European Weightlifting Championship, designer and stylist Aram Nikolyants unexpectedly rushed onto the stage, seized the Azerbaijani flag from the hands of the flag bearer, and burned it. The former minister considers such an act as a citizen of Armenia to be somewhat acceptable, but at the same time notes that such incidents should not occur during a sporting event.

“I have said and will say again: politics should not interfere with sports. There is a sports community and sports ideas that oppose all this. From a sports perspective, perhaps we have damaged ourselves more. I am confident that Baku needed this; we have given them a reason to talk. Now we must be prepared for Baku to start to 'buzz' around the issue, claiming that Armenians have taken such steps, and naturally, they will elevate this to a major issue,” Ghazaryan emphasized.

He pointed out that waving the flags of participating countries in the host country is one of the rules of the sporting world. In this context, the former minister reminded that the Armenian flag has also been waved in both Azerbaijan and Turkey. “When Mihran Harutyunyan (the wrestler) was an awardee, the Armenian flag was waved then too. They definitely would not have gained any ground here, and their flag would not have been waved in any weight category. I am sure of that. Their coming here and then leaving was simply a diplomatic and calculated move,” he added.