In a story that seems to have escaped the attention of many media outlets and blogger alike, a team of wrestlers from Armenia are currently in Azerbaijan competing in the World Championship. Although reluctant to host Armenian sportsmen in Baku, the Azerbaijani authorities were eventually forced to allow their participation and also to guarantee their safety as RFE/RL reported on 10 September.

The team’s participation in the competition will mark an extremely rare visit to Azerbaijan by Armenian athletes. The Azerbaijani government usually opposes the presence of various Armenian delegations on its soil, citing the unresolved conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier this year, the authorities in Baku refused to guarantee the security of Armenia’s national soccer team, which was due to play Azerbaijan as part of the ongoing qualifying campaign for the 2008 European football championship. The two teams had been drawn into the same Group A of the campaign. The Armenian side rejected Azerbaijani demands that the games between them be played in a neutral venue, leading European football’s governing body, UEFA, to cancel the fixtures.

The Azerbaijani authorities reluctantly agreed last May to allow Armenian wrestlers to compete in the world championship, scheduled for September 17-23, under apparent pressure from the International Olympic Committee and FILA, the sport’s world governing body.

Armenia Now also has a story on the well being of the athletes — an issue which is very significant given the frozen conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed mainly Armenian-inhabited territory of Nagorno Karabakh. All is apparently well, although the wrestlers have not been doing so well in the competition itself.

With the parting words of the National Olympic Committee Chairman — that a defeat in Azerbaijan would be particular embarrassing for an Armenian athlete — still ringing in their ears, two Armenian wrestlers appeared to have yielded to huge psychological pressure as they lost their very first fights in the ongoing world championships in Baku.

Roman Amoyan, in the 55-kg section, lost to an Azeri wrestler, Rovshan Bayramov, and Khosrov Melikyan, in the 60-kg section, lost to his fellow Armenian representing Ukraine, Suren Gevorgyan.

[…]

The rare performance of Armenian athletes on Azeri soil became possible due to the security guarantees provided by the Azerbaijani side. A relevant agreement was reached last May under pressure from the International Olympic Committee and FILA, the sport’s international governing body, to allow Armenian wrestlers to compete in the world championship scheduled to run through Sunday.

[…]

A 31-member delegation from Armenia consisting of fifteen Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestlers, including one woman, as well as coaches, medical staff and journalists, are currently in the Azeri capital. One of the reasons why the participation in the championships was deemed important for Armenia is that wrestlers that finish within the top eight in their respective weight categories will automatically gain qualification for next year’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

Apart from Team Armenia members, there are also several other ethnic Armenians taking part in the event that have brought together more than 850 wrestlers from 103 countries of the world. Their personal safety is also guaranteed by Azerbaijani officials.

[…]

Earlier, in his parting wishes to Team Armenia, Armenian National Olympic Committee Chairman Gagik Tsarukyan said that “the whole country will wait for the Armenian anthem to be performed in Baku due to the Armenian wrestlers.” At the same time, he said that the championship could provide a fresh impetus for the two countries to try and establish good-neighborly relations.

As reported by Azeri media, the Armenian delegation that arrived in Baku on September 15 was met at the airport by a special bus guarded by security personnel, who are to be attached to the delegation for the whole duration of the tournament.

[…]

Armenian Public TV H1 sport commentator Karen Giloyan, who is with the Armenian delegation in Baku, confirmed that their security was well organized in the Azeri capital and that there were no reasons for concern about the athletes’ or other delegation members’ safety.

A1 Plus, however, reports that the Armenian team has not been happy with some of the decisions made by referees during the competition. In particular, they allege anti-Armenian bias although I’m I’d be interested in knowing first of all whether the referrers were Azerbaijani. In such an international competition it is usual for the referees to be from neutral countries.

The Armenian delegation was in the center of everyone’s attention at the World Championship in Baku. Azerbaijani journalists were not allowed to interview Armenian coaches or wrestlers.

Instead, representatives of Russian mass media talked to the Armenian national team. Levon Julfalakyan, the chief coach of Greek-Roman style and Olympic Champion expressed his discontent with partial refereeing.

“I am not satisfied with the performances of my team. My team was prepared to bring 2-4 medals from Baku and 5-6 Olympic allowances. We won only one bronze medal and 2 allowances. The referees did not allow us to compete properly. I ensure you, that I do not like to complain and always look for the reasons of our failure in my team, but here I have to point out the negative attitude of referees toward the Armenian national team”, he said. According to the coach, specialists of any neutral country will express the same point of view.

“Roman Amoyan, 55 kg, European champion in 2006 competed with Rovash Bayramov, European champion in 2007. The referees often helped the hosts, and I wonder why they did not give any points to Amoyan. Their judgment was also partial toward Arman Adikyan, 66 kg, who fought for a bronze medal. The referees simply mocked at Denis Forov, 84 kg. At least the Armenian flag was raised in Baku owing to Yuri Patrikeev”, said the coach.

Julfalakyan finds that here everything was normal. “Yuri was the only wrestler whom the referees treated fairly and the result was the medal”.

Julfalakyan thanked the employees of Azerbaijani security service for their professional work.

“Of course, we felt embarrassed. It was difficult that we were unable to attend public places, since the security employees always accompanied us. But no incident took place due to the professionalism of the employees of security service”.

Hopefully, regardless of some of these reported problems, the competition will continue to pass without serious incident and set a precedent for similar events to be held in Armenia and Azerbaijan in the future. Personally, I’d like to see Armenian and Azerbaijani musicians visit each other’s countries. To date, any joint concerts are only held on neutral territory and usually in Georgia.