Sports vs. Politics

Azerbaijan is currently hosting around 6,000 athletes from 50 countries for the first European Games, a new sports event modeled after the Olympic Games. The games kicked off in Baku on June 12 and will continue until June 28, amid criticisms ranging from the cost of the games to human rights violations by the Azeri administration. It will also be remembered for bans on representatives from international media outlets like the Guardian and Amnesty International from covering the games.

The Azerbaijani government, headed by President Ilham Aliyev, who has been running the country since 2003 and was re-elected for a third term with 84.5 percent of the vote in October 2013, has been facing international criticism over its civil rights record, corruption and nepotism allegations. Although the Azeri government wanted to host the games in order to endorse Azerbaijan's image in the international arena and boost tourism and the economy, it has turned into a sort of public diplomacy nightmare, as many of the country's unnoticed problems have been flouted in the Western media, even before the games started. Even the games' lavish opening ceremony was not able to dispel the criticisms, with most European leaders staying away, leaving the stage to the Turkish and Russian presidents.

Countries regularly try to use international events like Olympics, the G-20 Summit, the Eurovision Song Contest and Formula One Racing to augment their international reputation and prestige. Some also hope for the economic benefits such events can bring, though they rarely materialize. The First European Games cannot be evaluated within this framework.

From an economic point of view, its estimated cost will be higher than $10 billion due to excessive infrastructure costs...