Arsenal mid-fielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan
After the leadership of Arsenal soccer team requested security guarantees from Azerbaijan for its mid-fielder Armenian National Soccer team captain Henrikh Mkhitaryan to travel to Baku, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry on Friday assured that he can take part in the UEFA Europa League final in Baku, scheduled for May 29.
“Many major sports events have been hosted in Azerbaijan, and Armenian athletes have taken part in them,” Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva told The Associated Press. “Sports and politics are separate.”
Arsenal officials expressed concerns over the issue that Mkhitaryan might not be able to participate in the match against Chelsea due to the “tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
“The security of our footballers is a priority. We demand guarantees from the UEFA that Henrikh Mkhitaryans security will be ensured if he leaves for Baku to participate in Europa League match,” said a statement from Arsenal.
Last year, Mkhitaryan missed a match in Baku, because Azerbaijan did not guarantee his safety. Mkhitaryan is on Baku’s “black list” for visiting Artsakh.
Azerbaijan’s soccer authority also gave assurances Friday to the UEFA that Mkhitaryan would not have problems to travel to Baku, the UEFA told the Russian Tass news agency.
Why is he even going? He should boycott the event.
Don’t go. Don’t do it.
The fact that officials in the Republic of Azerbaijan are guaranteeing Heno’s safety speaks about how much it is dangerous for an Armenian to be in Azerbaijani Republic. In a symmetrical situation situation, there would not even be a thought. On the contrary, Armenians would be delighted to have athlete(s) from Republic of Azerbaijan visiting Armenia, so they will see how good people we are. Why nobody speaks about how much hatred is ingested into Azerbaijani Republics’ peoples’ minds. What can you expect from someone whose actions are driven by hatred.
Why is he even going? He is going because we Armenians are inept at politics, fighting for our rights, or future. We are instead experts at taking orders from foreigners and foreign governments and are all to eager to become pawns in their geopolitical games. We have no game plan of our own, and never did. Brilliant soccer player or not, him taking orders and going to Azerbaijan “like a good little boy” means he is complicit in legitimizing a terrorist state.
watch out for Safarov the axe murderer
Garantees for his safety are worthless
Me yertar yeghpahr Jan turk inn chess ghrnar vesdaheal
I’m sad that we still have these types of issues that stand in the way of people playing sports among other things. I hope one day we can put our differences aside and come together peacefully.