Azerbaijan sends protest to International Olympic Committee over French state TV remarks

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan announced that it sent an official letter of protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over remarks given on French state television during the introduction of Armenia’s Olympic team at the event’s opening ceremony.

“Regarding the incident, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Olympic Committee sent an official protest letter to the International Olympic Committee,” said a joint statement by the Azerbaijani Youth and Sports Ministry and the country’s National Olympic Committee on Sunday.

On July 26, during the opening ceremony held on the River Seine, a reporter of the French state-owned television channel France 2 introduced Armenia’s Olympic team at the Paris 2024 Olympics as a country “historically close to the hearts of the French.”

The reporter further described the current year as one “marked, for the Armenian people, by the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh, into the hands of the Azerbaijani army.”

“The letter states that such disrespectful attitude of the state TV channel towards Azerbaijan is a clear violation of the Olympic Charter. Such propaganda is contrary to the spirit of the games and serves to undermine peace efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” the joint statement said.

The statement defined the reporter's remarks as a “violation of the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter.”

It went on to say that the letter called on the IOC to take a “firm stand” against the “politicization of sports," as well as to issue a public statement to French authorities and France 2.

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and talks on border demarcation.

Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" in September 2023, after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.