Europeans for Artsakh movement calls for banning Azerbaijan from 2024 Olympics

Turkey 22 February, 2024 20:12

The Europeans for Artsakh movement has urged the International Olympic Committee to take a stand against Azerbaijan's participation in the 2024 Olympic Games.

The movement has sent a letter to the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) concerning Azerbaijan's participation in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris and has called on the IOC to undertake concrete measures. The letter was also sent to the French National Olympic Committee, the French Olympic Games Organising Committee, the City of Paris, the President of the French Republic and the Minister for Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Europeans for Artsakh said in a press release.

Referring to the ongoing conflict and the ethnic cleansing committed by Azerbaijan against the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Europeans for Artsakh movement urged the IOC to ban Azerbaijan from being represented as a state at the forthcoming Olympic Games and to allow Azerbaijani athletes to compete only under a neutral banner. “This call comes in the wake of Azerbaijan's genocidal policy and ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, which led to the forced displacement of 120,000 Armenians from their ancestral lands and homeland in September 2023,” the movement said.

Only the French National Olympic Committee replied to the letter, according to the press release, acknowledging the situation and indicating that its position was in line with that of the French government and its diplomatic efforts, while stating: "we cannot remain insensitive to such a catastrophe."

“Europeans for Artsakh expects a clear position from the International Olympic Committee, since a failure to respond would undermine the integrity of the Olympic Games and pave the way for warmongering states.The movement will continue to put pressure for the sake of integrity and justice in this regard.”

Europeans for Artsakh is a pan-European movement bringing together the representative bodies of the 15 Armenian communities in Europe. It was the initiator of an appeal addressed to the leaders of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as to the leaders of the Member States of the Council of Europe, in support of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. This appeal was co-signed by more than 500 European associations.

The mission of this movement is to mobilise citizens and take the necessary action to ensure that the fundamental rights of the indigenous Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) are exercised and guaranteed.