The president of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation, Talat Unlu, praised the Armenian Federation for its superb management at the European Weightlifting Championships 2023.
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Despite earlier speculation that the Turkish team would withdraw, the president of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation has lauded Armenia’s hosting of the European Weightlifting Championships 2023. This followed an incident at the Opening Ceremony on April 14, when an Armenian member of the crowd snatched the Azerbaijan flag from a flag bearer during the parade of nations and lit it on fire. The incident garnered international attention and led the Azerbaijani government to order the departure of its team due to security concerns following the “barbaric act.”
Due to past battles that have lasted for more than a century, Turkey and Azerbaijan have no diplomatic ties with Armenia. On the other hand, the Turkish team opted to stay, and they claimed more medals than any other country except for the host country. The president of the Turkish Weightlifting Federation, Talat Unlu, praised the Armenian Federation for its superb management at the European Weightlifting Championships 2023. He remarked, “For a weightlifting championship, this is the best I have seen, the best competition hall, training area, and warm-up.” Despite the flag-burning event, Unlu commended the Armenian Federation for its extraordinary organization and the effective security measures that were in place. He continued by saying that certain protests were inevitable due to human nature.
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Just like the present event, Turkey will host the European Championships in February 2024, which are vital Olympic qualifiers. Armenia also strives to play host to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships afterward next year. In June, the IWF Board will select a host from among the bids, which include Peru, Venezuela, Albania, Bahrain, and Armenia. Unlu promised that Armenia wouldn’t have any problems while visiting Antalya, Turkey and that security would be given. He added that Turkey would respect the IWF’s choice of Armenia as the World Championships host and would take part without hesitation. Unlu insisted that they didn’t want any special consideration and preferred to be treated the same as the other teams.
The deputy minister of education, science, culture, and sport for Armenia, Karen Giloyan, expressed his happiness at Turkey’s favorable assessments of the tournament and their feeling of security in Armenia. Additionally, he anticipated Armenia’s participation in Antalya and hoped to invite Turkey the following year. The French coach, Arnaud Ferrari, complimented the welcome and regarded the organization as Olympic-standard. Danish coach Anders Bendix described the organization as “the best I have ever seen” and expressed his hope for Armenia to host the World Championships next year. High-ranking officials from the European Weightlifting Federation and the IWF have also recognized Armenia’s organizational efforts, although they disapproved of the flag-burning incident. President Antonio Conflitti called it “the best Championship I have ever seen.”
Although many athletes, coaches, and federation officials joined Unlu in commending Armenia’s efforts in hosting the European Weightlifting Championships 2023 for the first time, a few weren’t fully satisfied. Cyrille Tchatchet, a British member of the IWF Athletes Commission, criticized the crowd’s behavior. He said that the fans’ cheering for failures that improved the Armenians’ medal chances were unacceptable and that athletes needed silence when preparing to lift. Tchatchet said, “This is not weightlifting.” “It should be like tennis, we need silence when we are preparing.”
Read More-European Weightlifting Championships: Azerbaijan withdraw post flag-burning incident
