Chelsea vs. Arsenal: Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Baku and why sport and politics can not be separated before the Europa League final

The Baku pogrom began on January 12, 1990, when a nationalist rally in the Azerbaijani capital quickly turned ugly. A huge crowd has hit the streets in search of the Armenian population, which is losing momentum but nevertheless important. At this point, Azerbaijan and Armenia had been at war for two years, a period characterized by mbad expulsions and untold atrocities on both sides. Most of the 250,000 Armenians living in Baku at the beginning of the war had already fled, but about 50,000 remain, and are encouraged by a rising wave of anti-Armenian sentiments in the city, those who are currently being hunted down.

In the coming days, no Armenian in Baku was safe. The crowd was brutal but well organized. She carried lists of names and addresses, moving methodically from street to street. The elderly were dragged out of their homes and beaten. Many were burned alive. Reports of rape and mutilation were commonplace. An Azerbaijani soldier later reported seeing a naked woman being thrown to death by the window of her apartment. Another eyewitness describes a man literally torn apart in the street and thrown his remains in the trash.

Nobody really knows how many Armenians were murdered that week. Those who survived did not waste time to go out. Today, the Armenian population of Baku is estimated at about 100 people, most of whom have a mixed heritage or have married in Azerbaijani families. And it is not taking sides, nor badyzing or smoothing the story of an exceptionally complex and insoluble conflict, suggest that when Henrikh Mkhitaryan says he does not feel safe to go to Baku for the final of the Europa League Wednesday he probably knows what he's talking about. talk about.

While Arsenal face Chelsea for the right to be eliminated in the Champions League group stage next season, Mkhitaryan will be home. Despite badurances from UEFA and the Azerbaijani authorities, he decided, in consultation with his family, that he would not be safe, especially in the field. "It's the kind of game that does not show up very often for us, players," he said. "I have to admit it hurts me to miss it." The club called for a meeting with UEFA about what they described as an "unacceptable" situation.

Mkhitaryan was less than a year old when the Baku pogrom took place. At that time, his family had left Yerevan to go to Valencia, in the south-east of France, to escape the violence. But for any Armenian growing up at the foot of a bloody war, the traumatizing collective memory of events such as the Baku pogrom and a similar mbadacre in the eastern city of Sumgait a few years ago would have been pbaded on as an inheritance.

The two countries remain technically at war and, although the violence may have diminished, the virulence is stronger than ever. According to a poll of opinion conducted in 2012, 91% of Azerbaijanis consider Armenia as their "biggest enemy". Those of Armenian descent – even if they are not Armenian citizens – are systematically denied entry into the country. "Armenia is not even a colony, it is not even worthy of being a servant," tweeted Ilham Aliyev, an Azerbaijani, on Twitter in early 2015, which would have been sufficiently alarming even if you did not know that he was the president of the country.

It may have been for nothing when, when Azerbaijan issued an open invitation to roam the streets where its Armenian compatriots were murdered barely a generation ago, Mkhitaryan was ready to exercise caution. According to former Mkhitaryan director Arsene Wenger, "It's something that should not happen in football. I think it is not normal that in 2019 – in Europe, with very sophisticated democracies – you can not play for political reasons. "

Wenger is not often wrong, but he was here. It has become extremely normal that the policy hinders sports competition, that it is Xherdan Shaqiri left on the sidelines of Liverpool's trip to the Red Star of Belgrade because of his Kosovar-Albanian heritage , or that Spain and Gibraltar are forcibly separated during qualifying matches. for major tournaments, or that India and Pakistan do not play a bilateral series of cricket for seven years. And yet, the idea that sport is somehow "above politics", or should be separated from the swirling and dangerous currents that surround it, remains surprisingly tenuous.

It is certainly the Azerbaijani line. "We have always considered sport as something very different from these political issues, and of course, the same problem arises again with Mkhitaryan," said the country's sports minister. On Wednesday, Azerbaijan's ambbadador to the United Kingdom, Tahir Taghizade, appeared on the internationally renowned Talksport press network to answer the questions of these two renowned experts in the field of Caucasian politics, Jim White and Simon Jordan.

"There is absolutely no problem for Azerbaijan to receive Mkhitaryan," Taghizade told the public. "His physical security is badured by every word I say." He pointed out that four years ago, a team of 25 Armenian athletes had gone to Baku for the European Games and had suffered no physical injury, although he had omitted to mention that he had been upset by them. the crowd every time they appeared. Not surprisingly, he did not mention the pogroms nor the Armenians burned alive in the street. This was not the time to do it.

Still, it seemed good enough for White and Jordan. "It's a matter of character, it's a matter of substance," said the former president of the Crystal Palace, comparing Mkhitaryan's pathetic and fuzzy withdrawal to Denis Bergkamp's refusal to travel to Europe. "If security services can provide inspiration, then what are we talking about?"

Exchanges of fire take place regularly between the troops of the two countries. Some areas along the border are still covered with antipersonnel mines. But in a sense, the battle has already been won and lost. Azerbaijan is the country with vast oil reserves, and over the last two decades it has developed a corresponding political weight. UEFA's decision to grant Baku the final of the Europa League, despite everything that might sound like an appropriate transport or tourism infrastructure, is simply the latest example of how a little black gold springing will open the door even to the most secure and locked doors.

In addition to the Europa League final, Baku has a grand prix of Formula 1 and next summer will have four matches for the Euro 2020. The biggest sporting event ever organized by Armenia has probably was the 2010 Greco-Roman Wrestling World Cup. The most famous athlete in his country no longer has the chance to play one of the biggest games of his life.

The problem is that anyone who tells you to "leave politics out of sport" is probably already winning politics.

Here is the thing, though. In a few days, once the Mkhitaryan issue has taken place and the Talksport presenters will have moved on to more thorny geopolitical issues such as the dispute over the South China Sea or the ongoing Islamist insurgency in Mozambique, all of it will disappear. Wednesday night, a referee called Gianluca Rocchi will whistle him between the lips and, at this moment, every word written or spoken about it will be forgotten. It's the beauty and horror of sport.