YEREVAN, MAY 31, ARMENPRESS. HRD of Artsakh Republic Ruben Melikyan posted a statement on his Facebook page condemning Azerbaijan for detaining 8-year old child with Armenian surname at the Baku airport. “Armenpress” reports that according to the statement on May 30 publications appeared about the detention of Luka Vardanyan at Baku airport who had arrived in Baku with his mother Kristina Konstantinovna and her husband.  They are both Russian citizens. The child was detained for 10 hours. The only reason of the detention was his Armenian surname which raised doubts among Azerbaijanis that he might be Armenian.

Ruben Melkonyan asseses this as a demonstration of Armenophobia, a policy carried out by state level.

Artsakh’s Ombudsman urged international human right organizations, particularly those dealing with children protection, to give an adequate assessment to this incident and the Armenophobic policy in general.  “This policy is the direct cause of the horrible atrocities committed by the Azerbaijani armed forces against Artsakh Republic in early April, 2016. The adequate condemnation of this incident by the international community can stop the dissemination of anti-Armenian propaganda and incitement of violence, as well as gross human right violations in the region”, reads the statement.