An Azerbaijani football official, Nurlan Ibrahimov, has been banned by UEFA, European football's governing body, after he made a statement on social media saying that 'We must kill all Armenians – children, women and the elderly.' The disgusting comments are in light of the ongoing conflict in Artsakh, known officially as Nagorno-Karabakh, that is being fought over between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
His full statement, which he later deleted, said:
"We must kill all Armenians – children, women and the elderly. We need to kill them without making a distinction. No regrets. No compassion."
UEFA made a move to instantly ban him. The organisation said in an official statement:
"Nurlan Ibrahimov, is provisionally banned from exercising any football-related activity with immediate effect until the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body decides on the merits of the case. Ibrahimov is charged with racism (Art. 14(1) of UEFA Disciplinary Regulations) and violating the basic rules of decent conduct – Art. 11(2)(b)."
The individual is currently PR and media manager of Qarabağ FK, an Azerbaijani team. The Armenian football association has now petitioned UEFA to have the Azerbaijani national team and Azeri club teams banned from taking part in international and European competitions.
UEFA has already reprimanded the Qarabağ FK team for performing a military salute at their Europa League qualifying match against Legia Warsaw on October 1st of this year.
The conflict currently being fought has already cost the lives of over 1000 people. The disputed region of Artsakh sits within Azerbaijani territory but is inhabited by Christian ethnic Armenians who say they are victims of discrimination at the hands of the Azerbaijani state and elements in the Azerbaijani Muslim majority society. The Armenians desire to either have their own state or to reunite the region with Armenia. Armenia claims that if it removed its forces from the area, the people of Artsakh would likely become victims of an ethnic genocide.
Turkey has shipped Jihadi fighters to the area assist Azerbaijan. The 'Hamza brigade' have already fought on behalf of Turkey in the Syrian and Libyan civil wars in which they have been accused of torture, rape and mass-killings along with a series of other war-crimes.
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