One of the Armenian fans traveling to Albania, Artur Danielyan, says there won’t be any banners against Kosovo in the stadium, as some media had claimed, and that the visiting fans will be in Elbasan to support their team and not to make political statements.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh for years and some have been trying to draw parallels between the situation over Kosovo, Albania and Serbia.
Danielyan explains that tensions come from insertion of politics into sport, adding that problems in the Caucasus and the Balkans need not be translated into problems between Armenians and Albanians. “I personally don’t see any viable, logical reason for why there should be any closed borders or animosity between the states,” he said. “Albanians and Armenian have a lot in common as far as history is concerned, and Ottoman part of history in particular. And we are proud to know that Armenians have contributed in many spheres of life in Albania.”
Interview by Ben Andoni
We are hearing that the Armenian fans aim to make pro-Serbia statements on Kosovo during the match. Is this true?
The incident with Kosovo-related banners had nothing to do with the First Armenian Front (FAF is the largest fan group supporting the Armenian national team), as the banner itself was held in a different section of the stadium. Even though I am not a member of that club, I would definitely know if they were the organizers.
We are yet to find out whose initiative that was, since no fan group or organization has claimed responsibility for it. Some are even considering the possibility of it being a provocation. But most probably it was executed by a couple of hotheaded youngsters.
One way or another, for obvious reasons, Armenians in general support the right for self determination. That is something our country has been fighting for decades.
Are you planning to have political messages in your banners to Tirana?
This particular year Armenians all around the world are very sensitive to the issue of Turkish denial of the genocidal events at the beginning of the 20th century. While some might consider it as a political issue, for Armenians promoting awareness is a matter of national identity, like carrying the national flag or singing the anthem. Each Armenians is trying to raise awareness of the issues, but since FAF is an apolitical organization as far as I know, it is not planning to participate in any political actions. Some of the fans have been angered by the visa denials by Albanian authorities, and expressed concerns regarding the reasoning. But as far as I know no one is planning on any political protests.
The Albanian Football Federation has been very helpful to us, and the fans express particular gratitude to the president of the federation and those who were in direct contact with us on organizational issues.
What is your expectations from Albania? How many Armenian fans are set to travel to Albania?
This game is very important for both teams, and we expect full devotion from our guys and we expect no less from the Albanian team. Regardless of the good quality football shown by Albanian side recently, we expect only a victory from our team. It should be a great game and we are planning to support our team from the stands during all 90 minutes, we’re also expecting a top performance from Albanian fans. I must admit that we are looking forward to seeing the performance of Albanian fans.
About 50 fans will be arriving from Armenia, we will be joined by local Armenians and some Armenians from Europe. It is difficult to predict the number of Armenian fans, but it should be somewhere about 100 people.
Can you tell us about the main fan groups of Armenia: names, groups, slogans. What are you representing by yourself as Artur?
First Armenian Front (FAF) is the oldest and most populous fan club in Armenia. They support the Armenian national football team, however they also support national squads in other disciplines regardless of age and gender. They have a couple of thousand members all around the world.
I have been participating in FAF projects for many years even though I am not an active member of the club and there are many more like me.
What’s football like in Armenia?
At the moment the Armenian league is not very strong, which is why most of the players in our national squad are playing abroad. However, our local championship is capable of producing talented players with far-reaching potential, who can be competitive in top class leagues and, therefore, strengthen the national squad. Henrick Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund is a perfect example of this.
As far as fan clubs are concerned, only a couple of Armenain football clubs have fan clubs and those are not numerous in members, traditionally most football fans come together to cheer for the national squad.
