Azerbaijan denies visas for British-Armenian Arsenal fansMay 16, 2019 - 10:52 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Arsenal have held talks with the Foreign Office in an attempt to help a number of British-Armenian season-ticket holders who have been denied a visa required to attend the Europa League final against Chelsea in Baku, The Times reports. The club are seeking to ascertain whether any pressure can be put on the Azerbaijan government to make an exception for fans who are likely to miss the final as a result of the stand-off with Armenia, countries who have severed diplomatic relations due to a conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Arsenal’s Armenia midfield player, has been granted special dispensation on sporting grounds to receive a visa, but the club have yet to decide whether he will be included in Unai Emery’s squad for Baku. Meanwhile, Uefa are set to confirm whether they will meet the security requirements requested by Arsenal to ensure Mkhitaryan can play in the Europa League Final. This was also the case for Arsenal’s Europa League group stage game against Qarabag last October but a decision was taken against him travelling to Baku on security grounds. Talks are ongoing between Arsenal and Uefa. A delegation from the club was in Azerbaijan on Wednesday discussing logistics for the final at Baku’s Olympic Stadium with Uefa officials and counterparts from Chelsea. Top stories Armenian gymnast, Olympic bronze medalist Artur Davtyan has reached the finals of the World Cup. Gor Manvelyan has denied reports alleging that he has expressed a desire to one day play for the French national team. Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not considering FC Spartak Moscow as his next haven, according to fresh reports. 10 Armenian lifters will compete in the 2021 World Championships scheduled to be held from 7 to 17 December in Tashkent. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. |