Azernews.Az

A manager for Russian carmaker Avtovaz who was barred from boarding a flight of Azerbaijan’s state airline AzAL allegedly due to his Armenian descent plans to sue the company, Russian media reported.

Sergey Gurjian was quoted as saying that he was not allowed to check in for the AzAL flight from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport to Azerbaijani capital Baku last Thursday.

AzAL spokesman Maharram Safarli told Interfax Azerbaijan news agency that Gurjian was not allowed to travel to Baku for safety considerations. According to him, an AzAL representative had warned Gurjian that his visiting the country "would be inappropriate from the viewpoint of his safety". In response, Gurjian and Israeli citizen Dmitry Shukhmakher, another Avtovaz executive, who was traveling with him, ignored the AzAL representative and began to insult him. Gurjian and Shukhmakher also threatened the other passengers of the Moscow-Baku flight who were angered by the argument. After the AzAL representative consulted with the airline’s executives, the Avtovaz manager was barred from checking in for the flight, according to Safarli.

Safarli also noted that due to the unresolved status of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry has advised to prevent Armenians from traveling to Azerbaijan.

"As you know, 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory is occupied by Armenia," the AzAL spokesman said. "Therefore, Armenians’ coming to Azerbaijan is considered undesirable. Their visits take place only as part of international events."

Gurjian has told Russian media that he planned to attend the opening of a car salon in Baku as part of an Avtovaz delegation, at the invitation of Khazar-Lada OJSC, a partner of Lada company in Azerbaijan.