Azerbaijani flags thrown into trash bins during Armenia match – A history not forgotten in Türkiye

In recent days, attention has been drawn to a pressure campaign launched in some Turkish social media circles and media outlets over the decision of the Azerbaijani delegation to remain in the hall during the Israeli prime minister’s speech at the UN General Assembly.

Baku has been accused of “betraying brotherhood.” Yet history has a distinctive feature: it preserves facts with precision.

Let us turn to 2009 and Bursa’s Atatürk Stadium. What happened there that year?

In 2008–2009, rapprochement between Türkiye and Armenia was pursued under the name of “football diplomacy.” At a time when the Zurich Protocols were being signed, Azerbaijani territories were still under occupation, while the wounds of the Khojaly massacre and the deaths of thousands of Azerbaijani servicemen remained deeply painful for the nation. During the Türkiye–Armenia match in Bursa, nearly 20,000 spectators and the countries’ leadership watched the opposing side for 90 minutes, pigeons were released, and gestures of friendship were exchanged. The most painful part was that, by a decision of FIFA and the organizing committee, bringing Azerbaijani flags into Bursa was prohibited. Turkish and Azerbaijani brothers who tried to enter the stadium carrying Azerbaijani flags were even confronted by police, and footage emerged showing the flags being thrown into trash bins. That day, not a single person among the 20,000 spectators left the stadium saying, “This flag belongs to our brother; you cannot throw it on the ground.” The Azerbaijani people suffered a wound of brotherhood that day.

There is another major contradiction overlooked by those criticizing Azerbaijan for remaining in the UN hall. According to 2024 statistics based on UN trade data (UN Comtrade) and cited by Al Jazeera, Türkiye ranked fifth among the countries exporting the most goods to Israel. That year, the total value of Türkiye’s exports to Israel amounted to approximately $2.86 billion.

Now let us look at the picture: some social media activists from a country that maintains billions of dollars in trade with Israel and sends ships from its ports have come to criticize Azerbaijan, asking, “Why did you listen to Netanyahu in a hall that 72 country delegations had left?” The question arises: if leaving the hall is considered an act of principle, then what should we call maintaining trade relations worth billions of dollars?

If leaving the hall during every emotional protest were considered a diplomatic achievement, then in 2009, there should also have been a refusal to sit on the same platform with the head of a country that had occupied Karabakh. How is it that watching a 90-minute football match with occupying Armenia in 2009 was considered “diplomacy” and “in the national interest,” while Azerbaijan maintaining its diplomatic representation in the UN hall in 2026 is portrayed as “betrayal”?

Attempts by certain circles in Türkiye to pressure Azerbaijan through “Muslim solidarity” or religious rhetoric are bound to remain without effect. Azerbaijan is a secular, independent state that places its national interests above all else. Our country determines its foreign policy not according to anyone’s emotional dictates, but on the basis of Baku’s geopolitical realities and strategic objectives. As the Milli Majlis and media outlets have also emphasized, these coordinated external campaigns on social media are aimed not at supporting the principle of “One nation, two states,” but at sowing discord between the two societies. Brotherhood means respecting each other’s independent foreign policy decisions, national interests and sovereignty. Those who forget what happened in Bursa in 2009 while simultaneously overlooking the reality of billions of dollars in trade and questioning Baku over a diplomatic procedure at the UN should first look into the mirror of history and facts and analyze their own actions before lecturing others.

Giymat Mahir