Sports a way to PEACE, but not always…

Arts, theatre, culture and sports are considered efficient ways to start peace-building process between conflicting nations. It may seem that there was such an opportunity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as World Boxing Championship 2011 is being held in Baku and Armenian boxers are there to participate. Unfortunately the reality is different. The first Armenian boxer who won the match in Baku heard no single sound of applause, as the Azeris were not happy to see an Armenian to be a winner in Azerbaijan. Another and more disappointing incident happened today, when the members of an organization called “Karabakh Liberation Organization” rushed into the Heydar Aliyev Stadium, where the championship was taking place and started throwing stones at the Armenian delegation before the police intervened.
Akif Nagi, one of the nationalists, did not even hide that the move was planned in advance.
Nagi said the goal of their action was to hinder the Armenia boxers.
Azerbaijani nationalists also addressed offensive expressions to Armenian boxers who decided to participate in this championship only after they received official security guarantees from Baku.
For me this attitude is somehow expected, as in Azerbaijan there are certain prejudices towards Armenians. To tell the worst, these stereotypes go deeper and deeper. I admit that there are lots of prejudices in Armenia towards Azeris as well. But I must point out that fact was not an obstacle for us to host Azerbaijani sportsmen in Armenia and guarantee their security and well being throughout the whole championship. Five young athletes were in Yerevan for European judo championship for juniors and mark their country’s first-ever participation in a sporting event held in Armenia since the Soviet collapse. Azerbaijan’s participation in it was made possible by a special agreement signed by the Armenian and Azerbaijani ministers of sport in Yerevan.
The agreement commits the host country is to ensure the Azerbaijani team’s security, creating adequate conditions for it, and playing Azerbaijan’s national anthem if one of its wrestlers becomes a champion. I can do nothing but hope that this incident will be a “warning signal” for both sides to take more efficient steps towards peace building process starting with breaking the stereotypes existing in the societies.

http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Special:AWCforum/st/id9

http://tert.am/en/news/2011/10/02/baku/?sw

Arevik Hayrapetyan, FD blogger from Armenia