Iran: We will not allow Azerbaijan to register polo in its name

Iran will not allow Azerbaijan to register the game polo in its name, Iranian Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Seyed Reza Salehi Amiri was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency.

It should be mentioned that recently President of Iran’s Polo Federation Hamze Ilhani Zade said that following their attempts to present the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, Nizami Ganjavi, as an Azerbaijani poet, the Azerbaijanis are now trying to do the same with the ancient Iranian game – polo and even applied officially to the UNESCO.

The high-ranking Iranian official said, when commenting on the fact: “In connection with developments related to polo, we invited a joint sitting of officials of Foreign Ministry and Cultural Heritage Organization. Be sure, we will not allow the game polo belonging to our beloved Iran to be registered in Azerbaijan’s name”.

Iran and Azerbaijan have had disagreements in recent years over some cultural and historic issues. According to the Iranian side, in addition to maintaining that Nizami Ganjavi was an Azerbaijani, the Azerbaijanis try to present polo as well as Iranian musical instruments as those that originated in Azerbaijan, which has caused discontent of Iranian officials and art workers.