Argentine Armenians rally as Istanbul loses 2020 Summer Olympics bid

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian community of Argentina rallied on Saturday, Sept 7, against the visit of Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who traveled to Buenos Aires to bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

Razmig Nalpatian, President of Armenian Youth Federation of South America, said that “Erdogan, who still denies the Armenian Genocide and recently repressed his people in Taksim Square and has jailed dozens of journalists, should recognize the rights of the Kurdish people and end its aggressive foreign policy that destabilizes the region if he wants to nominate Turkey again as the Olympic Games host”.

In voting Saturday in Buenos Aires, the International Olympic Committee picked Tokyo over the two other contenders, Madrid and Istanbul.

The Japanese capital previously hosted the Summer Games in 1964.

Japan's bid for 2020 billed the city as the safe choice -- despite radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe personally made a presentation to the committee and promised an effective cleanup.

"I am so happy, I am overjoyed," Abe told reporters at the post-announcement press conference, according to CNN "I would like to share this joy with the people back home. We've received so much support from the people of the IOC and I would also like to express my support to them. And to the people around the world. A safe and secure Olympic Games will be staged by us -- I think that was another hope for their support. I would like to pledge that we will be discharging this responsibility."

Abe said Tokyo would try to stage successful Games to thank the world for its support after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan.

"Sport has the power to unite people," he said. "We experienced that after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, when athletes came to our country and helped us. Japan needs the power of sport, we need hopes and dreams."

Tokyo's bid came in at $5 billion to $6 billion, compared to $19 billion pledged by Istanbul, said Ed Hula, editor and founder of aroundtherings.com, which covers the business and politics of the Olympic movement.

But Tokyo's government has already amassed a $4.9 billion Olympic fund to pay to prepare for the Games, Hula said. And a $1 billion national stadium that will be used for the athletic events and the Opening Ceremonies will already have been built for the rugby World Cup in 2017 and is not considered an Olympic expense.

Turkey would have been the first Muslim country to host the Games, and with a median age of less than 30 years, one of the youngest. However, it missed out for the fifth time.

Istanbul would have been "a more emotional choice," Hula said. But its huge bid would have been needed to fund infrastructure improvements, including modernization of its transportation system.

Turkey's border with Syria also might have troubled some committee members, he said.

And this summer, the image of Turkish sport took a hit when about three dozen athletes tested positive for drugs, he said.

June's rioting in Istanbul's Taksim Square may also have tainted the city's hopes, though Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan tried to persuade IOC members ahead of Saturday's vote.

"We live at a time when our region and the world crave for peace," Erdogan said as part of Istanbul's final presentation. "And at this critical moment, we would like to send a strong message of peace to the whole world from Istanbul, the city of friendship and brotherhood."

Tokyo led after a first round of voting Saturday but fell short of a majority, with 42. Istanbul and Madrid tied for second on 26 votes each, and a 49-45 tiebreaker vote put the Turkish city in the final runoff with Tokyo, which won the deciding vote, 60 to Istanbul's 36.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will be in Brazil. The Winter Olympics will be held in Russia in 2014 and South Korea in 2018.