Statement Delivered by the Delegation of Armenia at the Quadrennial Panel Discussion on Promoting Human Rights Through Sport and Olympic ideal

07 July, 2021

Theme: The potential of leveraging sport and the Olympic ideal for promoting human rights for young people

Delivered by Mr. Henrik Yeritsyan, Third Secretary

President,

There should be no place for racially motivated intolerance in sports. However, in Azerbaijan such hate against Armenians is cultivated and practiced in all walks of life.

The ethnic Armenian sportsmen, whatever their citizenship, who should have gone to any competitions held in Azerbaijan have never been treated there in Olympic spirit. Their experiences hardly can be considered exciting and pleasant, with round-the-clock surveillance, violent attacks and other displays of hostility. This was the reason for the Armenian national teams to miss a number of important competitions.

Most recently, racism in sport in Azerbaijan appeared on the radars of the Union of European Football Association when several sports commentators were barred from covering the EURO-2020. They were from different countries but had one thing in common – the Armenian origin. Last year the UEFA banned for life a staff member of an Azerbaijani football club for a social media post urging to kill “all Armenians, old and young, without distinction”, and this was an exact quote. In 2011 two Armenian football players from the Russian Club “Torpedo” were deported from Azerbaijan immediately upon their arrival. In 2019 Henrikh Mkhitaryan playing for English Premier League club “Arsenal” did not travel to Baku for UEFA Europa League final against “Chelsea” since his club had not received adequate security guarantees.

Another riveting case in this incomplete list of incidents happened to Turkish arm-wrestler Zafer Noyan. He was barred from entering Azerbaijan in 2014 to participate in European Championship, since his last name sounded Armenian to Azerbaijani immigration authorities. As appalling as it may be but the poor guy was not even an ethnic Armenian.

I thank you.

MFA RA
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