Sport in Azerbaijan - integral part of state policy, deputy minister says

By Trend

Sport in Azerbaijan is an integral part of state policy, Mariana Vasileva, deputy minister of youth and sports of the country Mariana Vasileva said in an interview to the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), Trend reports on Dec. 7.

She reminded that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is the President of the National Olympic Committee, while First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva is the President of the Gymnastics Federation.

Besides, the deputy minister emphasized that representatives of different nations live freely in Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan is a state in which specialists of different nationalities and different religions from different countries work, and they feel free here, regardless of language, race or religion. Bulgarians work in almost all sectors of the Azerbaijani economy. There are many Bulgarian specialists in sports. Bulgarian athletes even represent Azerbaijan," added Vasileva.

Elsewhere, she noted that politicization of sports is unacceptable.

"The last election to the International Gymnastics Federation, which was held in Antalya just a few weeks ago, showed that, unfortunately, sports is politics. I would really like it not to be politicized," she said.