SocietyTop

Estonian citizen denied entry to Baku because of Armenian background

An Estonian citizen has been denied entry to Baku because of her Armenian background, Armenia’s Ambassador to Estonia Tigran Mkrtchyan said in a Facebook post.

Karine Oganesyan, a citizen of Estonia, adviser to the Chairman of Tallinn City Council and Chairperson of the Youth branch of Estonia’s Centrist Party,left for Azerbaijan‘s capital Baku on March 23 to participate in an international pedagogical conference.

Karine Oganesyan officially received an electronic entrance visa and departed for Baku as a member of an Estonian delegation. However, upon Karine‘s arrival in Baku airport the Azerbaijani authorities “noticed the mistake”, noticed her Armenian background, prevented her from entering Azerbaijan and deported her back to Estonia after keeping her in a special zone of Baku airport for 12 hours.

“This behavior once again displays the racist, intolerant nature of Baku authorities. The latter, soaked with Armenophobia, yet again express cynical attitude towards European values,” Amb. Mkrtchyan said.

He voiced hope that the Estonian side would make conclusions and adequately react to this “disgusting story, defending the rights of its citizen.”

“The European structures should not stay indifferent too, since Estonia is an EU member state and Karine Oganesyan is an EU citizen,” he added.

“And in general, if for a variety of motivations, a country is unable to receive participants and accompanying staff in international conferences, then the suitability of holding such evens in that country should be seriously revised,” Tigran Mkrtchyan concluded.

Show More
Back to top button