Arranged as a part of World championship, fifth round of FIDE (World Chess Federation) Grand Prix is being held in Jermuk, Armenia. Tournament is being held for the honour of World Chess champion Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian is very popular in Armenia, that is one of the strongest countries in the World about chess.
But our topic is not the sporty aspect of the issue. There are statements that may cause diplomatic crisis in the website of FIDE that is prepared for introduction of the tournamentwhich is being held for the honour of Petrosian’s 80th birthday. The statements that define Petrosian as a national symbol for Armenia says, “Petrosian symbolizes how Armenian nation comes over difficulties. Children of Armenian nation all over the world that survived of genocide and atrocity of Stalin, celebrated victory of Petrosian…” It is not hard to figure out what is implied by the word “genocide.”
This event could be ignored if we consider the statement as a routine mistake of FIDE but the event is serious since the Head of Armenian Chess Federation is the Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan himself. Other than that, the website is prepared by the technical support of Turkish Chess Federation. But Turkish Chess Federation has nothing to do with the event. Head of Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici has already sent a protest letter in behalf of the federation. FIDE officials apologized about the mistake but “genocide” statements still preserve their place in the webpage.
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