U.S. Minsk group co-chair backs participation of Armenian athletes in Baku competition

YEREVAN, April 30. / ARKA /. James Warlick, the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, mandated to help Armenia and Azerbaijan forge out a peace formula for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has  backed the participation of Armenian athletes in an international athletic competition to be held later this year in Azerbaijan.

"We hope the participation of Armenian athletes in the upcoming Baku-2015 first European Games can help build confidence and trust for peace in Nagorno-Karabakh,” James Warlick wrote on his Twitter.

On March 10 Armenia's National Olympic Committee (NOC) said following a meeting of its Executive Committee that Armenian athletes will travel to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to compete for the medals of the first European Olympic Games. 

President of the National Olympic Committee Gagik Tsarukyan said that apart from  security guarantees provided by the IOC and the European Olympic Committee at the highest level, the issue of Armenian athlete’s participation in the Baku games had been resolved after detailed discussions.

The first European Olympic Games, which will be held every four years, will be held in Baku from 12 to 28 June. Azerbaijan was the sole bidder to host the event, which is run under the auspices of the European Olympic Committee.

The athletes will fight for 253 sets of medals in 20 sports. The best in 11 sports will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Some six thousand athletes from all over the continent are expected in Baku. 

Geopolitically, Azerbaijan is best known in recent years for its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh that erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan, sought to secede from it and declared its independence backed by succeeding referendum. 

A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. 

Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year. M.V.-0-