Photojournalist Diana Markosian, who works for the Bloomberg News Agency, was deported from Baku when she arrived there on assignment from Istanbul because she is Armenian.

In an interview with an Azerbaijani news agency Markosian expressed her surprised over the incident, saying that for three weeks Bloomberg had been negotiating with the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry about her permission to enter Baku.

“Upon receiving a verbal confirmation allowing my arrival, I traveled to Baku airport, where I was refused entrance because of my Armenian origin, although I’ve never been to Armenia. The Foreign Ministry representative said he’s unable to help me. I would understand it, but why promise something you can’t deliver?” said Markosian.

Reports say Markosian has dual US and Russian citizenship and came to Baku with her Russian passport.
Meanwhile, Elkhan Polukhov, head of the press office for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, insisted Markosian did not have accreditation.

Polukhov acknowledged that Bloomberg had applied to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry regarding the agency’s plans to do economic reporting from Azerbaijan and that that request had been approved.

But he added: “Bloomberg management was informed that Azerbaijan is at war with Armenia; 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territory was being occupied by Armenia; and about one million Azerbaijani people turned into refugees and internally displaced persons. For this reason, there will be problems to provide security for Armenian Diana Markosian. We asked the agency to send another photographer instead of Markosian.”

Photos taken by Markosian have been published in newspapers such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

(Based on a report by Asbarez.com)