Why Mkhitaryan probably won’t go to the Europa League Final

Just saw this on reddit had no idea about the Armenian and Azerbaijan conflict. And definitely had no idea about the axe murder at a peace conference.

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comm...not_go_to_the/

Is he not allowed to enter Azerbaijan?
Back in 2015 when Borussia Dortmund had to face Gabala in Azerbaijan, UEFA told him that he would get a special visa if he would want to go. We can only assume this would have applied again this year. He decided not to go to Azerbaijan himself.

Why wouldn't he want to go to Azerbaijan to play in the Finals of the Europa League?
Multiple reasons come to mind. First and foremost, his safety cannot be guaranteed. Armenia and Azerbaijan have a complicated relationship (read: hateful) due to a conflict in the early 90's concerning a territory which was part of Azerbaijan but ethnically Armenian. The Armenians of the region tried to secede through a referendum, but the government of Azerbaijan refused to recognize this referendum and rescinded the autonomy of the region, after which war broke out. At the end of the active fighting, Armenians controlled the territory and some surrounding lowlands which used to be inhabited by Azerbaijanis. Here's a map of the current situation.
Due to this conflict, hate of Armenians is widespread in Azerbaijan. Regular Armenians are not allowed to enter the country at all. This policy goes as far as detaining Russian and Estonian citizens with Armenian sounding surnames for hours and refusing to let them enter the country. Here is an example of a Russian citizen being deported because of their surname ending in -yan. For the record, such a policy does not exist in Armenia; Azerbaijanis are allowed to enter without any problems.
A case which symbolizes the ubiquity of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan is the murder of Gurgen Margaryan. Back in 2004, Gurgen (an Armenian soldier) was in Hungary to participate in the NATO Partnership for Peace Program. While there, an Azerbaijani participant of the same program axed him to death in his sleep. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary.
In 2012 however, Hungary agreed to extradite him in order to sit out the rest of his sentence in an Azerbaijani jail. When he arrived at the airport in Baku he was instead pardoned immediately by the president. He received a hero's welcome including back pay for the 8 years he served in a Hungarian prison and he was promoted to the rank of major and on top of it all he received an appartment from the government (source). People at the highest offices in Azerbaijan reacted positively to all of this, with the Commissioner for Human Rights in Azerbaijan being quoted to say "Ramil Safarov must set an example of patriotism for the Azerbaijani youth"(source). Here are some more responses of Azerbaijani officials. I hope you can understand why he wouldn't want to go to a country which glorifies the murder of a sleeping Armenian to such an extent.

Conclusion
Only Mkhitaryan himself knows why we will or won't go, but I believe I have shown you plenty of reasons for him not to go. Whether it is solidarity with the other Armenians not allowed to enter the country, or the response to/active fostering of Anti-Armenian sentiment by their government, I personally believe he shouldn't go. I hope this gives enough information on the decision that he will have to make.

This is what the murder said upon his pardon:

Quote:

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I regret that I hadn't killed any Armenian before this. The army sent me to this training and here I learnt that two Armenians were taking the same course with us. I must say that hatred against Armenians grew inside me. In the beginning we were greeting each other, or rather they said "hi" to me but I didn't respond. The reason why I committed the murder was that they passed by and smiled in our face. At that moment I decided to kill them, i.e. to saw their heads off...
If not here and now, then I would do the same thing any other time and in any other place. If there were more Armenians here I would like to kill all of them. It is a pity this was the first occasion and I hadn't managed to get better prepared for this action... My calling is to kill all the Armenians. My job is to kill all, because until they live we will suffer.

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Two years ago I flew into Azerbaijan and travelled by train north westwards, over the top of Armenia and into Georgia. From Georgia I hitched southwards into Armenia, which actually sits side by side with Azerbaijan. If I remember rightly, Azerbaijan won't let you into their country if you have been to Armenia but it's not such a problem the other way around. However, the border between the two countries is shut. The region of Nagorno-Karabakh is a hugely sensitive issue.

And a tip for those travelling in the Balkans (unless things have changed in the three years since my travelling in that area): You can travel into Kosovo directly from Serbia but not the other way around.

Having two passports helps too :-)

I was reading it’s fine in Armenia but problems start the other way. Must have been an interesting border to cross!

Levison Wood Wild Frontiers series did an episode trekking through both countries & covering the area. Good TV.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/...wild-frontiers

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Originally Posted by Des Parrot

Levison Wood Wild Frontiers series did an episode trekking through both countries & covering the area. Good TV.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/...wild-frontiers

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Will give that a watch :thumbup:

During the 2015 European games an Armenian won a gold medal and was presented with it by the President. The crowd started booing and the president stopped them. He said this was sport and not about war. Of course he knew others were watching but Azeris will never forgive Russia for supporting Armenia in the 'land grab'. There are still many empty apartments in Baku owned by ethnic Armenians who fled (were driven out) when it all kicked off