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ARMENIA SAYS IT WON'T TAKE PART IN CHESS OLYMPIAD IN BAKU
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow Deputy Editor
10.09.12 | 12:50
Armenia repeated over the weekend its decision not to send its
chess players to Baku after the Azerbaijan capital was chosen by
international chess's governing body, FIDE, to hold one of the
upcoming Olympiads.
On Saturday, the day before Armenia won the World Chess Olympiad in
Istanbul, Turkey, the city also hosted an FIDE congress where it was
decided to grant Baku the right to host the 2016 Olympiad. Before
that the FIDE Executive Committee demanded that Azerbaijan provide
security guarantees to delegations of all countries, including Armenia,
which it eventually received at the ministerial level.
Azerbaijan's Sport Minister Azad Rahimov assured the chess body that
the security of the Armenian chess players would be guaranteed on
the state level.
"If necessary, the Armenian chess players will be provided with
special security," the official said, according to Azerbaijani media.
Armenia still deems the assurances are too little, as things stand now,
to risk the security of its nationals in Azerbaijani soil.
The tense relations between the two neighboring South Caucasus nations
aggravated earlier this month after a controversial extradition of a
convicted murderer of an Armenian to Azerbaijan by Hungary. Armenia
believes the move is more proof of the bitter hatred that exists in
Azerbaijan towards Armenians after ethnic clashes in the late 1980s
and the bloody war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991-1994.
FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, meanwhile, said the conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan could be settled by 2016 and so it
shouldn't stand in the way of Baku's bid.
"In 1996 we organized an Olympiad in Yerevan. Why not organize it in
Baku in 2016?" said the FIDE chief, adding that he had visited both
Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss the matter with both countries'
presidents.
"This Olympiad will be in four years' time and during this time the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict may be settled. So, let's play chess!"
added Ilyumzhinov.
Meanwhile, former world champion Garry Kasparov, a half-Armenian and
native of Baku, too, said he might visit Baku during the 2016 event
if the Karabakh conflict had been solved by that time. But the citizen
of Russia excluded his attendance of the Baku Olympiad otherwise.
"Maybe the parties will settle the issue till 2016. In that case I
will think it over," he told Azerisport.com in Istanbul.
Kasparov is expected to make a bid to become FIDE president in
elections scheduled for 2014.
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow Deputy Editor
10.09.12 | 12:50
Armenia repeated over the weekend its decision not to send its
chess players to Baku after the Azerbaijan capital was chosen by
international chess's governing body, FIDE, to hold one of the
upcoming Olympiads.
On Saturday, the day before Armenia won the World Chess Olympiad in
Istanbul, Turkey, the city also hosted an FIDE congress where it was
decided to grant Baku the right to host the 2016 Olympiad. Before
that the FIDE Executive Committee demanded that Azerbaijan provide
security guarantees to delegations of all countries, including Armenia,
which it eventually received at the ministerial level.
Azerbaijan's Sport Minister Azad Rahimov assured the chess body that
the security of the Armenian chess players would be guaranteed on
the state level.
"If necessary, the Armenian chess players will be provided with
special security," the official said, according to Azerbaijani media.
Armenia still deems the assurances are too little, as things stand now,
to risk the security of its nationals in Azerbaijani soil.
The tense relations between the two neighboring South Caucasus nations
aggravated earlier this month after a controversial extradition of a
convicted murderer of an Armenian to Azerbaijan by Hungary. Armenia
believes the move is more proof of the bitter hatred that exists in
Azerbaijan towards Armenians after ethnic clashes in the late 1980s
and the bloody war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991-1994.
FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, meanwhile, said the conflict
between Armenia and Azerbaijan could be settled by 2016 and so it
shouldn't stand in the way of Baku's bid.
"In 1996 we organized an Olympiad in Yerevan. Why not organize it in
Baku in 2016?" said the FIDE chief, adding that he had visited both
Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss the matter with both countries'
presidents.
"This Olympiad will be in four years' time and during this time the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict may be settled. So, let's play chess!"
added Ilyumzhinov.
Meanwhile, former world champion Garry Kasparov, a half-Armenian and
native of Baku, too, said he might visit Baku during the 2016 event
if the Karabakh conflict had been solved by that time. But the citizen
of Russia excluded his attendance of the Baku Olympiad otherwise.
"Maybe the parties will settle the issue till 2016. In that case I
will think it over," he told Azerisport.com in Istanbul.
Kasparov is expected to make a bid to become FIDE president in
elections scheduled for 2014.