The European WHOLE ATLETIC Federation decisively condemns the incident that occurred during the opening ceremony of the European heavy athletics championship in Yerevan on April 14, 2023, when the flag of Azerbaijan was burned.
This is stated in the statement of the European Building Federation (EWF).
“EWF considers this extremely serious and decent gesture to an encroachment on the inviolability of sports values and on universal principles of an honest game.
EWF immediately responded to this incident, expressing his firm position in relation to the organizing committee and asking additional security guarantees of all participants in this competition. EWF was constantly with the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, expressing its full solidarity and support to athletes, trainers and officials, ”the statement said.
EWF considers this incident a single and notes that it will follow the implementation of additional measures, urgently requested by the Organizing Committee.
“We regret that the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan was forced to leave the competition, but at the same time we respect this decision. We were directly involved in ensuring all the security conditions of the delegation before its departure from Armenia,” the statement emphasizes.
The statement notes that EWF will consider the possibility of taking additional measures in the context of what happened, the leadership of the European Federation will participate in all events held under these championships, before the departure of delegations, to ensure the implementation of all safety conditions for the commands.
“EWF is still in solidarity with the Azerbaijani national team and the Federation and is still available for any form of support that is required in the spirit of sports and honest game,” the European True Athletics Federation said.