Фото: t.me/olympicteamby
The head of Belarus’ National Olympic Committee, Viktar Lukashenka, flew to Turkey on a government business jet with tail number EW-301PJ. Flight data were recorded by the AirNav Radar flight tracking service.
The aircraft departed from Antalya on Saturday, April 5, at 10:16 p.m. local time after a short delay and landed in Minsk on Sunday at 3:41 a.m.
It is known that the head of the NOC took part in the 18th International Ethnosport Forum, which was held from April 3 to 5. During the forum, Lukashenka met with the president of the World Ethnosport Confederation, Bilal Erdogan. The sides discussed prospects for cooperation in ethnic sports, paying particular attention to the upcoming strongest athletes’ cup in gorodki in Maladzyechna at the end of April. Erdogan positively assessed the Belarusian Gorodki Federation’s accession to the confederation and said he wanted to visit Minsk this year, the NOC press service said.
Talks were also held with Turkey’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Osman Aşkın Bak. The sides discussed deeper cooperation between sports federations, holding joint training camps and competitions, the development of youth sport and exchanges of coaching experience. According to the Belarusian NOC, the Turkish minister called the exclusion of Belarusian athletes from international competitions unfair.
“This is wrong and very unfair. There are currently a large number of military conflicts in the world. We hope that Belarusian athletes will soon be able to compete on the international stage without restrictions,” the committee quoted him as saying.
In addition, Lukashenka met with Russia’s sports minister and head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Mikhail Degtyarev. The sides discussed upcoming joint events, including the National Athletes Forum, the Young Olympians Forum and the Vytoki project.