Armenian, Azerbaijani kung-fu teams take fighting off ring

The footage of a mass brawl between Armenian and Azerbaijani kung-fu teams that took place both on and off stage went viral on social media circles and news websites.

The fighting occurred during a match between 12-year-old Armenian David Petrosyan and his Azerbaijani opponent at the Children's European Kung-Fu Championship in Ukraine's western city of Lviv.

Several media outlets reported that the fighting began between Armenian and Azerbaijani camps outside the ring. Video footage shows that the young athletes also did not cease fighting despite the bell.

The fighting reportedly broke out as the flag of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region, where Petrosyan comes from, was raised by the Armenian camp. Petrosyan's older brother was also reported to be a decorated soldier who saw action in latest clashes in April.

Tensions rose when the young Armenian athlete, who had the upper hand during the match, hit his Azerbaijani opponent, although the referee was standing between them.

Trainers jumped into the ring and some 50 people started fighting with sticks, poles and chairs.

President of the Kung Fu Federation of Europe, Nikolai Matulevskiy, was among the people who were stuck between the fighting crowd and took his share of the beating.

The fight could only be stopped with police intervention, after which the Azerbaijani team was disqualified from the competition.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a state of war due to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh issue. In April, two countries have involved in the heaviest fighting since 1994, in which dozens of soldiers were killed and dozens of others were wounded. Tensions continue to remain high in the region despite the truce announced on early Tuesday, as Azerbaijan recently announced on Tuesday that one of its soldiers was killed by Armenian fire.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan, has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military since 1994. Years of negotiations under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have brought little progress in resolving the territorial dispute.

Clashes erupted between two former Soviet republics over the control of the disputed region lying inside Azerbaijan's borders as early as 1988. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenian forces, aided by the weapons vacuum, former Soviet forces fighting as mercenaries on their side and support from locals, captured the former autonomous oblast along with large surrounding areas in its east and south. When the fighting reached to a stalemate in 1994, around one-fifths of Azerbaijan's territory was inavded by Armenian and Karabakh troops and remained under their control ever since. Azerbaijani troops are roughly in control in 20 percent of the territories of the separatist region, which makes up less than half of the occupied territories.

Armenian forces are being accused of committing grave human rights violations against local Azerbaijani population in invaded territories, with the Khojaly Massacre being the most notable.

More than 700,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000 Armenians were displaced due to the conflict. Many displaced Azerbaijanis continue to live in poverty as the Azeri government refuses to accept the status-quo.

Both sides report numerous casualties, accusing each other on Saturday of violating a ceasefire, a sign that the two-decade-old conflict which has left some 30,000 people dead is far from a peaceful resolution.