Photo journalist Diana Markosyan working for Bloomberg news agency was deported from Baku on Tuesday evening.
“I am extremely surprised. We have been negotiating with the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry for three weeks asking permission for my arrival. Responsible official of your Foreign Ministry asked for 10 days to settle the matter,” she told Azerbaijani Turan agency.
Officials asked for documents that the journalist presented, including a formal letter from Blommberg.
“Then representatives of the foreign office said that everything was fine. When I was at the airport in Baku, I was told that I was denied entry because of my origin, even though I had never been to Armenia,” Diana said.
The representative of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told he could not do anything.
“I can understand everything, including a ban on entry, but why promise something you can not do?” she said in a phone conversation with the agency correspondent.
Director of Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) Emin Huseynov quoted Markosyan as saying that her documents were accurate, they just wouldn’t let her pass because of Armenian surname.
Bloomberg agency photojournalist Diana Markosyan was seized by Baku airport border guard.
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1 comment
It is a shme, it is 21-st century and we face discrimination because of the Armenian surname. Armenian’s will continue to expose these unjust acts by the facist regimes in their neighborhood.