I got deported from Azerbaijan two days ago and spent one night in an immigration jail in Turkey. Here's some survey about the number of deportees in Istanbul airport on Nov 19 2007.

17 Nigerians.
1 Libyan.
1 Indonesian.
2 Uzbekistan.
1 Lebanese.
1 Pakistani.
1 Azeri.
1 Tajik.
1 Kosovar.
1 Iraqi.
1 Venezuelan.

How and why I got deported

I went to Baku to do some pretty interesting work for SilverKey Azerbaijan for ten days. I got deported from Azerbaijan for a fairly mundane procedural mistake. I applied for a visa for the Azerbaijan Embassy for business purposes and due to the timing I require for the visa, they simply inform me that I can obtain the visa in the airport.

So I went and they refused to grant me a visa by blaming the embassy. I didn't get deported immediately because I received a stay while my case was being fought in Azerbaijan government system.

This is how thing gets interesting.

I think there were three ministries in Azerbaijan got involved plus that famous intelligence organization that starts with K (they were on my side).

I got security clearance and approval from the responsible authorities on Monday afternoon. I was informed that I was going to be issued visa and admitted to the country. But I think someone in the border office thought otherwise and decided to deport me before the Foreign Ministry managed to put a stamp on my passport.

When you get deported, you receive special treatment from the airline. The captain of the plane held your passport, the flight attendants paid special attention with you and you were escorted in your transit city.

Then they put you in jail in Istanbul and the rest is history.

Azerbaijan treated me well, the Turks treated me well in Jail and the Egyptian received me with open arm.

What impressed me of this whole situation was the amount of effort and people in the background that tried to admit me in the country. This simple deportation case became a bigger thing in the end with so many players getting involved. And it was quite a revelation to observe and experience the deportation sequence from one country to another.

I found out it was quite easy to befriend people when you get stuck together in a jail. They were magnificent people and yet quite ordinary many ways. We got incarcerated for such mundane issues.

I met two older Uzbek aviators that got deported from Libya. Their case had something to do with the new Arabic translation requirement in Tripoli. Karim, the Libyan, was a businessman refused entry in Turkey. I met a Lebanese that got arrested after being refused to enter Cyprus although he had a visa. There was one Azeri kid, Parviz, on the way home to Baku whom the Turkish immigration accused of having a fake passport. He was my translator from Russian to English when we chatted with the Uzbeks. I befriended Shazad, an Iraqi from Kirkuk currently living in Sofia, Bulgaria. Vincent, a Kosovar, got stuck in that jail for four days before released to applause three hours from my departure. Henry was a football player in Nigeria. Bright was supposedly a major Scrabble coach in Lagos (I have no idea there was such thing as a Scrabble coach). The Pakistani only responded with Islamabad to any question in English; the language wasn't his strong suit. The Venezuelan was an immigrant from Nigeria.

They fed you Burger King combo for lunch.

In the end, I flew to two new countries without stepping outside their airports. I left Egypt on Saturday and returned on Tuesday.

Other than 4 days without a bath, it wasn't that bad.

I'll be back.