Dear Dr. Thomas Bach,
This June, CSI launched a public campaign to #BanAzerbaijan from the Paris Olympic Games. The campaign was in response to the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno Karabakh’s ancient Armenian Christian population in September 2023. This atrocity crime was orchestrated by the president of Azerbaijan’s national Olympic committee – Ilham Aliyev, who is also the dictator of Azerbaijan.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) opened the door to CSI’s demand when it abandoned its principle of political neutrality in the face of pressure from the rich and powerful G7 states and banned the flag and national teams of two UN member states from the Olympics Games in Paris on the grounds of human rights violations.
Yet instead of standing in human rights solidarity with the Armenian Christian victims of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing, including the hostages now held in captivity by the Aliyev regime, we see the IOC providing political support for the perpetrators. This clear departure from the IOC’s declared commitment to promote human rights through sport is manifest in a letter of apology sent on your behalf to the perpetrating state.
This letter apologized for a factually correct reference made by a France 2 television commentator during the opening ceremonies in Paris to “the fall of Nagorno Karabakh at the hands of the Azerbaijani Army.” Still more ominous is the fact that your apology was combined with an assurance to Azerbaijan that “clear indications have been delivered [to the media] to avoid any future references using similar terms.” It is clear from this message that the IOC is using its influence to cover up the Aliyev regime’s atrocity crimes in Nagorno Karabakh.
This display of obsequiousness – apologizing to a dictatorship for a factual statement from an independent television reporter, and attempting to censor journalism in a free country on that dictatorship’s behalf – reflects the influence the Azerbaijani regime has acquired through its oil wealth throughout the international system, including the IOC. It is a shameful reflection of the IOC’s true priorities.
I would be remiss if I did not note the contempt for Christians around the world expressed by an insulting parody of Christ’s Last Supper during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. This carefully choreographed insult, broadcast around the world under the IOC’s logo, suggests a deeply ingrained disdain for Christian identity and culture, which may be a factor in the IOC’s toleration of the ethnic cleansing of Armenian Christians from Nagorno Karabakh.
CSI will continue to campaign for accountability for the architects of the Karabakh Genocide, for the right of Karabakh Armenians to return to their homeland and live there in freedom, and for the freedom of Armenian hostages still held by Azerbaijan, such as Vicken Euljekjian, Ruben Vardanyan, and David Babayan.
We are heartened by the support of the numerous new supporters and friends we have gained through this campaign, and emboldened by our conviction that genocide must not become a cost-free proposition for the powers of the world system and their junior partners.
At the close of the 2024 Olympics, we renew our call to you to live up to your own values of Olympism, to reject the influence of malign, racist, anti-Christian dictatorships within the Olympic system, and to adopt a consistent approach to promoting human rights through sport.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Eibner International
President
CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY INTERNATIONAL (CSI)
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