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An incident happened during the return game between the football clubs Dinamo Tbilisi and the Azerbaijani Gabala in Azerbaijan – the Azerbaijani fans held posters which presented the Georgian districts Marneuli and Borchali as Azerbaijani territories, as well as maps where the territories were indicated within Azerbaijani borders, according to the Azerbaijani news portal Haqqin.az.

According to the report, the fans raised posters that read “Sarvan, not Marneuli,” “Borchali is an ancient Azerbaijani land,” etc. The posters were removed after the police intervened, which was on special duty in the Gabala stadium territory.

News portal Caucasian Knot reports that the Gabala fans burnt the Georgian flag during the second half. About 50 fans who had arrived from Tbilisi were seated in a special sector taken under the protection of the Police and plainclothes men.

The Azerbaijani media outlet 1news.az adds that the match ended with a score of 0-2 for the Azerbaijani team. Gia Geguchadze, the head coach of Dinamo Tbilisi, said after the match that he had his own opinion regarding the referees but the match is over and nothing could be changed.

According to the news website Gruzia Online, Dinamo Tbilisi director Nikoloz Jgrakava told the TV station Rustavi2 that Dinamo Tbilisi intends to turn to UEFA regarding the incident. He said that the club will make a statement and make clear its position,” he said. They would definitely let UEFA know about what happened, he said.

Earlier, Haqqin.az wrote that the Tbilisi match of the teams on 2 July 2015 ended with a score of 2-1 for the Georgians and an unpleasant incident with the fans.

It was estimated that about hundreds of Georgian fans would be arriving for the return game in Gabala. According to the information, a sport website writes, “After the well-known events during the Tbilisi match, those hundreds of fans can be called heroes.” This is explained by the possibility of the Georgians facing the Azerbaijani fans’ tough response in Azerbaijan.

According to the report, social media skirmishes between the Azerbaijanis and the Dinamo Tbilisi fans do not calm down. Some Azerbaijani fans openly promise to hold a “warm and unforgettable” reception for the Georgians in Gabala.

A witness of the Tbilisi after-match events and a member of one of Dinamo fan clubs, who asked not to reveal his name, told Haqqin.az that the group Dinamo Tbilisi Ultras was involved in beating the Gabala fans, desecrating Azerbaijan’s flag and hanging a banner about Gakh and Zaqatala.

The Georgian fan thinks that the Azerbaijani flag should not have been stepped on, but the beating of the Azerbaijani fans is justified. He said the Azerbaijanis raised the Bozqurd organization’s flag during the match. “Didn’t the Azerbaijanis know that a Georgian fan had been killed in Turkey under such a flag? Besides, I think that they should not have waved the Turkish flag during the match. This enraged the Dinamo Tbilisi Ultras members and they attacked the Azerbaijanis,” the witness explains.

The Georgian fan states that the Dinamo Tbilisi Ultras members will hardly arrive in Gabala for the return match. “The ordinary fans, who have nothing to do with the Tbilisi conflict, will arrive. It will be unfair if they suffer because of the Ultras,” he noted.

Bozqurd (Grey Wolves) is a Turkish terrorist organization created in the late 1960s. According to a letter published on sports.accept.ge, the Bozqurd members killed the prominent Georgian patriot Ahmed Melashvili in Turkey in the 80’s. The letter also contained information about the Georgian temple in the Azerbaijani territory whose doors were locked up and currently the Georgian clergyman is not allowed to enter it; about the Georgian territories currently within the Azerbaijani borders; and about Chikhura-Neftchi match during which the Georgian Patriarch and the flag of the country were insulted, according to the author.

An incident occurred in the Georgian capital after the football match between Dinamo Tbilisi and the Azerbaijani Gabala on 2 July 2015 – Georgian and English-language posters claiming that the currently Azerbaijani districts Zaqatala and Gakh historically belong to the Georgians were held in the stadium.