IOC mediating Armenia's participation in European Games

Thomas Bach

Yerevan (Armenia), Oct 9 (IANS) International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has reportedly met Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian to discuss the possibility of Armenia's participation in the first-ever European Games that will be hosted by Azerbaijan next year.

Bach arrived here Wednesday with a delegation that included Patrick Hickey, president of European Olympic Committee (EOC), which has decided to hold Europe's biggest-ever multi-sport event in Baku in June 2015, reports Xinhua. The main purpose of their two-day trip is to discuss ways of boosting IOC's ties with the Armenian National Olympic Committee, according to azatutyun.am.

Armenia is yet to decide whether or not to send its athletes to the Baku Games given its unresolved bitter conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Azerbaijan government publicly pledged to guarantee their safety late last month.

"Thomas Bach assured that both IOC and EOC will make every effort to ensure that Armenian people are satisfied with the results of the negotiations and that necessary conditions for their athletes and coaches are put in place in the host country," the Azerbaijan government office said in a statement.

The statement added Bach and Sarkisian agreed that "politicising sports is inadmissible".