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 left for Azerbaijan‘s capital Baku in order to participate in an international pedagogical conference. Karine Oganesyan 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 the mistake”, noticed her Armenian background, did not allow her entrance to Azerbaijan and after keeping for 12 hours in a special zone of Baku airport, deported her back to Estonia.
This behavior once again displays the racist, intolerant nature of Baku authorities. The latter, soaked with Armenophobia, yet again express a cynical attitude towards 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 events in that country should be seriously revised.
