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Ecranas spokesman is asked to leave Baku for â€œNKRâ€ visa in his passport

21 July 2009 13:10 (UTC +04:00)

- Today your team meets with Baku in return match within the second qualifying of the Champions League. But you are not in Baku, but at homeâ€¦

-Yes. I am in Vilnius. I was asked to leave Baku.

- Recently you visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, Khankendi. Did the problem arise from that?

- Yes, I have a visa in my passport tat I was in Nagorno Karabakh. Therefore I faced with a problem in Baku. We were invited there month-two ago. We attended the journalistsâ€™ tournament there.

- You probably know that Armenians declared non-recognized â€œNagorno Karabakh Republicâ€ in the Azerbaijanâ€™s territories. Didnâ€™t you expect that you will face with a problem in Baku in this case?

-I didnâ€™t expect that the problem would be so serious. I came to Baku and received hotel accommodations together with my team. But then I needed to leave Baku. The person who came to hotel informed me that I couldnâ€™t stay in Baku for that visa in my passport. I returned home. I didnâ€™t face with any pressure. They only told me that I should leave Baku for that visa. They informed me about the situation between Azerbaijan Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and said that I can return to Baku after changing the passport. It was late. I canâ€™t change the passport and return to Baku in a short time. Today is a return game between Baku and Ecranas.

-Didnâ€™t they see that visa in your passport during the registration in Baku airport?

-I think, no. They didnâ€™t pay attention in that time, but then found out it and asked me to leave. I regret for this story. I came to Baku as a representative of the visitor team, as a friend and it was a business travel at last. But it happenedâ€¦ I regret that I couldnâ€™t see beautiful Baku.

-How the return ticket and visa issue were solved?

- I had round-trip ticket for this Friday. They gave me a ticket for another date and I had free ticket to return home.

-Do you regret for that?

- This is a life. The Armenians say that Nagorno Karabakh is their land and you say that it is yours. I donâ€™t want to speak about that and to interfere in the political issues. In any case you know truth better.