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Hurriyet, Turkey
Sept 3 2012
Baku's presidential pardon adds to Caucasus tensions
YEREVAN / BAKU
Tense relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia are to further
deteriorate after Hungarian government sends a soldier who murdered an
Armenian back to Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned and promoted
Tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia has reached new heights after
the Hungarian government sent a soldier who murdered an Armenian back
to his native Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned.
Hundreds of people have since taken part in protests outside the
Hungarian consulate in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Angry
demonstrators burned the Hungarian flag on Sept. 1 and threw eggs,
tomatoes and coins, accusing Budapest of doing a deal with Baku in
order to profit from Azerbaijan's energy riches.
Yerevan cut diplomatic ties with Hungary on Aug. 31. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan said Hungary had made a `grave mistake' in
extraditing the killer, who hacked his victim to death with an axe in
Budapest in 2004. Armenia also vowed to protest the presidential
pardon in a letter to the states that co-chair the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group. U.S. President
Barack Obama said he was `deeply concerned' about the pardon.
Azerbaijani lieutenant Ramil Safarov was jailed for life after hacking
Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian to death at a military academy in
Budapest, where the servicemen were attending English-language courses
organized by NATO. Safarov claimed that Markarian had insulted
Azerbaijan. The two fought a bitter war over the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s, and tension between them has been high
ever since.
The conflict left some 30,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of
thousands. The two sides have not signed a final peace deal since the
1994 cease-fire, and there are still regular firefights along the
Karabakh frontline. Hungary insists that Azerbaijan promised that the
soldier would serve out the remainder of his sentence after his return
home and would not be freed.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers were scheduled to meet
yesterday with the OSCE co-chairs in Paris, where the issue is likely
to be on the agenda. It was also expected to come up during the visit
of NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the region this
week.
Promotion to major
In another move that infuriated Armenia, Azerbaijan has reinstated
Safarov to the army and promoted him to the rank of major. `Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev received him, handed him his new rank and wished
him success in his future military service,' a Defense Ministry
statement said. The Ministry also awarded Safarov over eight years'
worth of salary for the time he spent in a Hungarian prison, and
gifted him with an apartment. Armenian Justice Minister Hrayr
Tovmasyan wrote a letter to his Hungarian counterpart to express his
indignation at the extradition.
`I am certain that you should have known what would happen with
Safarov in Azerbaijan. You should have known that you were
transferring a person who had committed a murder based on the motive
of racial hostility, to a country where he is considered a hero. You
must have known that this would be a slap, first of all to the justice
of Hungary, and generally to the whole European value system,' wrote
Tovmasyan, according to News.am website. `I would have resigned in
your place as a minister,' wrote Tovmasyan.
Message from Diaspora Ministry
Armenia's Diaspora Ministry also called upon the Armenians all over
the world to commence demonstrations in connection with the
extradition. Commenting on Safarov's extradition, Azerbaijani lawmaker
Ganira Pashayeva said: `this is a great event not only for
Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan, but also for the whole Turkish
people living both inside and outside Azerbaijan,' according to
News.az website. Another Azerbaijani lawmaker, Zahid Oruj, who was
directly involved in securing Safarov's extradition, also defended the
decision. `Safarov's action was not an ordinary criminal case. It was
an adequate action against an Armenian who trampled the Azerbaijani
flag before the eyes of a man who has lost his land, and whose
relatives and friends were killed in front of his eyes,' Oruj said.
`Safarov became a kind of symbol. His release will raise the moral and
psychological mood of the society.'
Azerbaijan also hit back at U.S. criticism, insisting that the pardon,
awarded to Safarov after he had served eight years of his sentence,
conformed to a European legal convention on extradition.
September/03/2012
From: Baghdasarian
Sept 3 2012
Baku's presidential pardon adds to Caucasus tensions
YEREVAN / BAKU
Tense relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia are to further
deteriorate after Hungarian government sends a soldier who murdered an
Armenian back to Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned and promoted
Tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia has reached new heights after
the Hungarian government sent a soldier who murdered an Armenian back
to his native Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned.
Hundreds of people have since taken part in protests outside the
Hungarian consulate in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Angry
demonstrators burned the Hungarian flag on Sept. 1 and threw eggs,
tomatoes and coins, accusing Budapest of doing a deal with Baku in
order to profit from Azerbaijan's energy riches.
Yerevan cut diplomatic ties with Hungary on Aug. 31. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan said Hungary had made a `grave mistake' in
extraditing the killer, who hacked his victim to death with an axe in
Budapest in 2004. Armenia also vowed to protest the presidential
pardon in a letter to the states that co-chair the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group. U.S. President
Barack Obama said he was `deeply concerned' about the pardon.
Azerbaijani lieutenant Ramil Safarov was jailed for life after hacking
Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian to death at a military academy in
Budapest, where the servicemen were attending English-language courses
organized by NATO. Safarov claimed that Markarian had insulted
Azerbaijan. The two fought a bitter war over the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s, and tension between them has been high
ever since.
The conflict left some 30,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of
thousands. The two sides have not signed a final peace deal since the
1994 cease-fire, and there are still regular firefights along the
Karabakh frontline. Hungary insists that Azerbaijan promised that the
soldier would serve out the remainder of his sentence after his return
home and would not be freed.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers were scheduled to meet
yesterday with the OSCE co-chairs in Paris, where the issue is likely
to be on the agenda. It was also expected to come up during the visit
of NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the region this
week.
Promotion to major
In another move that infuriated Armenia, Azerbaijan has reinstated
Safarov to the army and promoted him to the rank of major. `Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev received him, handed him his new rank and wished
him success in his future military service,' a Defense Ministry
statement said. The Ministry also awarded Safarov over eight years'
worth of salary for the time he spent in a Hungarian prison, and
gifted him with an apartment. Armenian Justice Minister Hrayr
Tovmasyan wrote a letter to his Hungarian counterpart to express his
indignation at the extradition.
`I am certain that you should have known what would happen with
Safarov in Azerbaijan. You should have known that you were
transferring a person who had committed a murder based on the motive
of racial hostility, to a country where he is considered a hero. You
must have known that this would be a slap, first of all to the justice
of Hungary, and generally to the whole European value system,' wrote
Tovmasyan, according to News.am website. `I would have resigned in
your place as a minister,' wrote Tovmasyan.
Message from Diaspora Ministry
Armenia's Diaspora Ministry also called upon the Armenians all over
the world to commence demonstrations in connection with the
extradition. Commenting on Safarov's extradition, Azerbaijani lawmaker
Ganira Pashayeva said: `this is a great event not only for
Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan, but also for the whole Turkish
people living both inside and outside Azerbaijan,' according to
News.az website. Another Azerbaijani lawmaker, Zahid Oruj, who was
directly involved in securing Safarov's extradition, also defended the
decision. `Safarov's action was not an ordinary criminal case. It was
an adequate action against an Armenian who trampled the Azerbaijani
flag before the eyes of a man who has lost his land, and whose
relatives and friends were killed in front of his eyes,' Oruj said.
`Safarov became a kind of symbol. His release will raise the moral and
psychological mood of the society.'
Azerbaijan also hit back at U.S. criticism, insisting that the pardon,
awarded to Safarov after he had served eight years of his sentence,
conformed to a European legal convention on extradition.
September/03/2012
From: Baghdasarian