A chance for Azerbaijan

The official opening ceremony of the first European Games took place in Baku

In Baku, the official opening ceremony of I European Games took place. Competitions will take place in 20 sports - sixteen Olympic and four Neolimpi. In total, 253 sets of awards will be played in the games, more than six thousand athletes from 50 countries are expected to participate.

This event in an interview with Radio Freedom was commented by the political observer Arkady Dubnov .

- What is the importance of these games for the country and, in particular, for the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev ? Why did he insist on holding games with such persistence and even made his wife the head of the organizing committee?

- These games, I believe, have a grandiose value for the Azerbaijani leader. The son of Heydar Aliyev inherited not only a post, not only power, but also a country. He probably believes that this event, just as the Winter Olympiad in Sochi 2014 for the President of Russia, has the same grandiose iconic, I would say, the sacred meaning that his powerful purpose claims. He brings the city and the world the good news of his wonderful country. The least here, most likely, sporting results are important, in any case, for Azerbaijani athletes than it was 2014 for Russian athletes. The most important thing is that the world learns how beautiful Azerbaijan is, how many opportunities, money there, what a country's value has a country, how it can show its muscles and its willingness to open to the world, and not only from a military point of view.

- A lot was said in the press of Azerbaijan and other countries that the large amounts spent on the preparation of European games can affect the country's economy. Is it really so? After all, large expenses for large competitions are fraught with the fact that after the completion of the games, excellent sports facilities may remain out of work, although Baku claimed and will also claim the summer Olympic Games.

- I think that any state with the authoritarian vertical of power, whether Russia or Azerbaijan, is less than other democratic countries, are concerned about the effectiveness of financial and material investments in such grandiose events. They say that about $ 10 billion was spent on these first European games in Baku. But who considers the money that is completely in the hands of the ruling family? By the way, it is not by chance that this is why the first lady of Azerbaijan was appointed chairman of the organizing committee. This means that such money can be trusted only to close people. And who can be closer than your wife! ..

- In March, it was announced that Armenia would go to games in Baku . The leadership of Azerbaijan gave full guarantees of security athletes Armenia and even paid for all the costs of the trip of the Armenian delegation to the capital of Azerbaijan. How serious was it to meet each other? Or did it be purely formally, ritual?

- If I said that this is just a gesture, not filled with any human political content, it would be wrong. Of course, the Azerbaijani leadership did as it should have done as a country-the organizer of the European-level mini-Olympic games. "Oh, sport, you are peace!" -It was said, in my opinion, Pierre de Cuberten, and it could not be otherwise. Another thing is that this gesture is filled with such a significant propaganda ornament that, unfortunately, its political destiny is partly emasculated. I watch Internet resources, not only Azerbaijani, but also Armenian. There is little compliance with this free from the political situation to the sports spirit. There are a lot of bile, a lot of suspicions, a lot of accusations, a lot of speculations far from sports. Unfortunately, I am not filled with optimism in connection with the future of the negotiation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan after the end of the games. I see something else. Journalists, publicists, and political actors in both countries vying for a fright of serious complications in relations between countries - up to a military exacerbation, as soon as these games end. But this is the matter of the future, but for now, I repeat, the gesture of Azerbaijan is worthy of all praise.

-Now the political reality in the space of the former CIS is such that there are at least two serious conflicts between the participants in these games- the Russian-Ukrainian and Armenian-Azerbaijani . Just yesterday, the news went about some kind of fight, or a major conflict in Baku between Russian and Ukrainian athletes. Can something more serious happen during the games, or is it just a pre-trial excitement?

- Everyone can happen. I would like to keep my fingers crossed so that nothing tragic or scandalous in the relationship between athletes of different countries happens. We remember the terrible tragedy of 1972 at the Olympic Games in Munich. But I believe that what happened between the athletes of Ukraine and Russia is very characteristic of our time. Here the special services of Azerbaijan were unlikely to be repaired. It was just a personal conflict. He is not related to some threats of a terrorist nature. But, in general, I can’t say that Azerbaijan was very lucky that the games are held in such a complex, such intense geopolitical moment when the war is going on almost between the two countries - the allies of Azerbaijan in the post -Soviet space.

- As a rule, when large competitions or a large cultural event are taking place on the territory of such a country, such as the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, a lot of questions arise in the world and, in particular, the human rights community - was it necessary to allow this kind of country to conduct a major competition? Now there are also a number of questions around Baku, similar to those who sounded around the Olympic Games in Sochi and Beijing, as well as around the World Hockey Championship in Minsk 2014 . Do you think this is normal? Does such a tournament give a chance to somehow get rid of such claims? Or is it, on the contrary, it works for the benefit of the regime?

“I would agree with your last statement.” Unfortunately, I discover that the Azerbaijani authorities are tough and, I would say, unreasonably stubbornly defend their right to an internal, so to speak an irreconcilable policy towards their political opponents. This is expressed in such incidents as, say, the closure of the OSCE office in Baku, which looks in principle strange, since it is the OSCE Minsk group that is the main guide in an attempt to find peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Or an attempt to limit the presence during the games in Azerbaijan representatives of Emnesti Interneashnl, one of the most authoritative world human rights organizations. In my opinion, this is little justified stubbornness in an attempt to prove your case. And, of course, I’m afraid that the world will partially recall these games not from the point of view of sports results, but from the point of view of such a scandalous, unjustified political stubbornness, in which for some reason the authorities themselves were interested.