Azerbaijan Calls For Penalties After Tennis Player's Nagorno-Karabakh Message At Australian Open

Tennis player Karen Khachanov was born in Moscow to an Armenian father born in Yerevan. 

Azerbaijan has called on the International Tennis Federation and the Russian Tennis Federation to take action after Karen Khachanov wrote messages of support for the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh following wins at the Australian Open.

Khachanov, a Russian who has Armenian roots, twice wrote "Artsakh stay strong!" on a camera lens following victories in the Grand Slam tournament. Artsakh is the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The tennis player should be punished for the provocative actions and to keep such a situation from being allowed to repeat itself," the Azerbaijani Tennis Federation said in a statement dated January 23.

Following matches at the Australian Open, winners on the main court traditionally sign their name on the lens of a camera that sits courtside.

Khachanov, who won his quarterfinal match on January 24 against American Sebastian Korda, was born in Moscow. His Armenian father was born in Yerevan.

The 26-year-old world number 20 has publicly noted his Armenian roots many times previously.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh for decades. Some 30,000 people were killed in a war in the early 1990s that left ethnic Armenians in control of the breakaway region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan proper.

The two sides fought another war in 2020 that lasted six weeks and killed thousands of people on both sides before a Russian-brokered cease-fire, resulting in Armenians' losing control over parts of the region and the adjacent districts.

Tensions in the region have flared again in recent weeks after protesters, who describe themselves as environmentalists, began a blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the only route for food, essential supplies, and people between Armenia and areas controlled by ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The blockade, set up in December, was launched by the protesters who are demanding access to mining sites inside the breakaway region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Armenia says has questioned whether the protesters are legitimate, saying they are actually a cover allowed by Baku in an attempt to put pressure on ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh to either leave the area or accept Azerbaijan's sovereignty.