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Russian Armenian Kicked Off Baku Flight

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  • Russian Armenian Kicked Off Baku Flight

    RUSSIAN ARMENIAN KICKED OFF BAKU FLIGHT
    by Nathan Toohey

    Tne Moscow News
    Oct 31 2011

    A Russian citizen with a Armenian last name said he was prevented
    from boarding an Azerbaijan Airlines flight to Baku.

    Sergei Gyurdzhyan, wrote in his blog that the airline's staff told
    him that "there were instructions from management - passengers with
    Armenian surnames are not to be registered."

    Gyurdzhyan, head of export sales of AvtoVAZ, was due to fly from Moscow
    to Baku on Oct. 27 to open a Lada showroom. Gyurdzhyan presented a
    Russian passport and explained that he was born and lived most of
    his life in Moscow -- to no avail, Kommersant reported on Monday.

    His traveling companion, Dmitry Shumakher, a subsidiary directors at
    AvtoVAZ Lada International, was also prevented from boarding after
    complaining of racial discrimination towards Gyurdzhyan.

    Presidential aide outraged

    The online scandal surrounding the incident quickly grew. Gyurdzhyan's
    blog received thousands of comments with presidential aide Arkady
    Dvorkovich weighing in, commenting on twitter that the situation was
    "an outrage."

    The paper reported that human rights organizations said that the
    incident was not an exceptional event but was becoming a trend.

    "There have been incidents in airports, cases when a person with an
    Armenian surname and a Russian passport were removed in the middle of
    the night from trains traveling from Makhachkala to Baku," Kommersant
    quoted Alexander Verkhovsky, head of the Sova anti-extremism center,
    as saying.

    "I don't think that there is an official ban on Russian Armenians,
    but it is taking place."

    Previous events

    Kommersant cited several other incidents. In 2010, Azeri boarder
    guards stopped an Aeroflot flight attendant with an Armenian surname
    from entering Baku after arriving on a Moscow-Baku flight.

    In May the newspaper wrote that Russian citizen Yury Manasyan was
    prevented from boarding a Azerbaijan Airlines flight to Dubai that
    was transferring through Baku.

    The airline refused to comment for the article, but the paper said
    thatAzerbaijan Airlinet had previously said that it had the right to
    deny any passenger from flying without explanation.

    http://themoscownews.com/business/20111031/189166050.html


    From: Baghdasarian
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