Deutsche Welle, 8 December 2013
German
President Joachim Gauck will not be attending the upcoming Winter Olympic Games
in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. This has been interpreted by some as an act
of silent protest by Germany's head of state.
President
Gauck's office on Sunday confirmed a story published by the Spiegel news
magazine that he would not travel to Sochi for the Winter Olympics in February.
However, a spokesperson for his office said this was not meant as a boycott of
the Games.
Gauck's
spokesperson also noted that a number of former presidents have given previous
Winter Games a miss, including his immediate predecessor, Horst Köhler, who did
not attend the last Winter Games when they were held in the Canadian city of
Vancouver.
Michael
Vesper, the general secretary of German Olympic Sports Federation, also played
down the news.
"Just
because somebody doesn't travel somewhere doesn't make it a boycott,"
Vesper said. "As far as we know, there was never a plan for Mr. Gauck to
visit Sochi."
Praise for
the president's decision
However,
Gauck did attend the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, and some have
interpreted his decision not to go to Sochi as a something of a silent protest.
The former
Lutheran pastor and activist in the former East Germany has in the past
criticized Russia over its human rights record, and Russia has come in for
particular criticism in the West over a law passed almost a year ago making itillegal to promote a gay or lesbian lifestyle.
The German
government's human rights commissioner, Markus Löning, praised the move, saying
Gauck's decision not to go was a "wonderful gesture of support for all
Russian citizens, who fight for freedom of opinion, democracy and citizens'
rights."
One of the
vice presidents of the Bundestag, Claudia Roth of the Green Party, told the
newspaper Rheinische Post that the president's decision was "a strong
position" and an "encouraging signal."
President
Gauck has yet to make a state visit to Russia since taking office in 2012. It
was not immediately clear whether Chancellor Merkel would make the trip to
Sochi in February. A government spokesman said this was a matter to be
discussed a later point in time.
pfd/ph
(dpa, SID)
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