BAKU, Azerbaijan, Aug. 3
Trend:
The Consulate General of Azerbaijan in the US' Los Angeles sent a letter of protest to the president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) promotion company Dana White in connection with raising the "flag" of the internationally unrecognized illegal regime, created by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, by an athlete of Armenian origin at the UFC competition, Spokesperson of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva told Trend on August 3.
According to her, the consulate stressed in the letter that this unrecognized regime is the result of the military aggression of Armenia, and brought the unequivocal position of Azerbaijan on this issue to the UFC leadership.
The consulate reminded that the UFC rules allow to display the flags of only internationally recognized states, and required to take disciplinary measures against the athlete for trying to politicize the competition, as well as general measures to prevent occurrence of similar cases in the future.
UFC is the US' Las Vegas-based sports organization holding mixed martial arts fights.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.