BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 15. The burning of the Azerbaijani national flag at the opening ceremony of the European Championship in Yerevan is a medieval chauvinistic act, Peter Marko Tase, American Journalist and prominent scholar on the geopolitics of Europe and the United States, told Trend.
Yesterday, at the opening ceremony of the championship in Yerevan, which was also attended by Azerbaijani athletes, Aram Nikolyan, who is a designer and stylist, ran onto the stage and defiantly set the Azerbaijani flag to fire. This is a vivid act of barbarism and a manifestation of xenophobia and Azerbaijanophobia.
"International sports organizations should impose sanctions against the Armenian government and not consider Yerevan as a venue for future global sporting events," Tase said.
Commenting also on the brutal treatment of the Azerbaijani military captured by Armenians, Theis noted that in the 21st century, the norms of the Geneva Conventions and the EU resolutions on human rights are grossly violated by the bloodthirsty regime of Yerevan.
The American expert condemned the biased position of France and other countries that constantly provide Armenia with unlimited freedom of action and continue to provide the terrorist regime of Yerevan with financial resources.
"The torture of Azerbaijani soldiers in captivity, committed by Pashinyan's appointees, are acts of barbarism that take us back to the times of the Balkan Wars when Armenian revolutionaries and soldiers committed countless crimes against the people of Bulgaria and other peoples of Europe. The EU and NATO should immediately suspend all their diplomatic dialogues with Yerevan indefinitely until Pashinyan presents concrete results of the peace dialogue with Azerbaijan. For the civilized world to observe Yerevan's crimes and remain silent is as monstrous as the crime itself," he said.
Former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza also told Trend that such terrible incidents speak for themselves.
"I hope that these terrible incidents will not be repeated," Bryza said.
Moreover, the commission of such a barbaric act at a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister of Armenia, and the applause of the Armenian public, the presentation of the person who committed this act as a hero, are clear examples of ethnic hatred, racism, xenophobia, and Azerbaijanophobia in Armenia. It also absolutely contradicts the noble goals and principles of sport, which promote peace and mutual understanding between peoples. The politicization of sports is absolutely unacceptable. The international community and international sports organizations should strongly condemn this barbaric act, and the European Weightlifting Federation should impose sanctions against Armenia.
Meanwhile, Armenia demonstrates by its destructive actions that it has no interest in concluding a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and does not want to turn the page of enmity. The recent provocative actions of the Armenian side are clear proof of this. The brutal treatment of the Azerbaijani serviceman by the Armenians shocked the world community.
Thus, Azerbaijani army servicemen Agshin Babirov (born in 2004), and Huseyn Akhundov (born in 2003), had previously gone missing in conditions of limited visibility under adverse weather conditions in the Shahbuz district of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic bordering Armenia. After a while, photo and video footage of torture in Armenia against Akhundov occurred in the Armenian media.
The international community reacted harshly to Armenia's barbaric behavior and called upon the community to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Nevertheless, the Armenian side does not cease its provocative actions, which grossly violate all international norms.