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Azerbaijani authorities held an Estonian citizen of Armenian origin at Baku airport for twelve hours and sent her back to Estonia after it was found out that she had an Armenian surname.

Karine Oganesyan, a citizen of Estonia and adviser to the Chairman of Tallinn City Council, as well as Chairperson of the Youth branch of Estonia's Centrist Party, on March 23 travelled to Azerbaijan‘s capital Baku to take part in an international pedagogical conference, Armenian Ambassador to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan said in a Facebook post.

She had officially received an electronic entrance visa and together with the Estonian delegation (as its member) left for Baku. But upon Karine‘s arrival in Baku airport the Azerbaijani authorities noticed her Armenian background and barred her from entering Azerbaijan. After keeping her for 12 hours in a special zone of Baku airport, they deported her back to Estonia.

“This behavior once again displays the racist, intolerant nature of Baku authorities,” the Armenian envoy said.

“Soaked with Armenophobia, they once again express cynical attitude towards the European values. I hope the Estonian side will make its own conclusions and will 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.

“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.”