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TURKISH POISON
Magyar Nemzet website
Sept 3 2012
Hungary
Editorial by Gabor Stier
[Translated from Hungarian]
The world press is again full of Hungary. This time the extradition
of Ramil Safarov, an Azeri officer who was given a life sentence for
brutally murdering his fellow Armenian soldier, is keeping the media
in a frenzy.
Not without a reason as, crudely and cynically disregarding its written
commitment, Azerbaijan did not only give a presidential pardon to
the murderer but it is celebrating him as a national hero and has
even promoted him. President Ilham Aliyev is talking about some kind
of early summer political agreement, which in the light of rumours
about Azerbaijan buying Hungarian government bonds is putting the
Hungarian government in a rather awkward situation. In the meantime,
Yerevan is furious and is calling upon Armenians throughout the world
to protest, and although up to now only Azeri homepages have been
hacked, it is talking about a war. Furthermore, it has broken off
diplomatic relations with Hungary which, asserting its good faith and
the legality of the procedure, is demanding an explanation from Baku,
and considers the case to be closed.
However, the row is continuing and it is to be feared that we have
fallen into our own trap. Willy-nilly, we have fallen into the middle
of an extremely acrimonious conflict, and it is no use for us to try
to pretend otherwise, this is the truth. Of course, all this is not
surprising at all because the Azeris and Armenians have been in a
war with each other for nearly 25 years and this is not much changed
by the fact that these days the weapons are rarely booming around
Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation is tense and rather loaded from a
geopolitical point of view, and the nerves are stretched to breaking
point. In this situation a spark is enough for the ardent hatred to
catch fire. In this situation no one could have been surprised - or
if they were, it is too bad - that the extradition of Safarov would
kindle those ambers. There was a good chance that Baku would use the
arrival of the officer, who is respected as a hero, to demonstratively
strengthen the national feelings, and a country that "enjoyed" the
hospitality of the Turks for 150 years should hardly be surprised
at the devious release of Safarov. That Azerbaijan undertook to have
the sentence completed? So what! The national ideal overwrites the law.
Therefore, we must not hide our heads in the sand, and must not
pretend that nothing has happened because it is to no effect that
the affair is formally clean, in the above context the extradition
raises certain moral issues. Let us not forget that, in the eyes of
the civilized world, Safarov is not a hero but a brutal murderer. In
this situation the government can be expected not to consider the case
to be closed but to provide a transparent and detailed explanation
about the circumstances of the extradition and in general about the
entire unfortunate issue. If it does not do this, it will only fuel
further guessing and malicious conjecture.
As it is, we are already not short of these. For example, we can
see with astonishment how many Armenian sympathizers have emerged
all of a sudden. People who had no idea about or were not at all
interested in the cultural and religious closeness of the Hungarian
and Armenian nations are now unfolding the flag for Yerevan. This is
no coincidence because this unfortunate case has come in handy for
everyone from Obama to the Hungarian opposition who are not interested
in the eastern opening that is to broaden Hungary's room for manoeuvre.
The main lesson of the past few days is the fact that the world is
hypocritical, and it is driven by interests, rather than values. There
is a good chance that in the coming days we will be able to experience
on our own skin how important the power of the lobbies is, and instead
of indignation, from Washington to Brussels, we should be working
on building up an influence that at least approaches the influence
of Armenians. However, all this does not change the basic fact that
murderers belong in prison.
[Translated from Hungarian]
Magyar Nemzet website
Sept 3 2012
Hungary
Editorial by Gabor Stier
[Translated from Hungarian]
The world press is again full of Hungary. This time the extradition
of Ramil Safarov, an Azeri officer who was given a life sentence for
brutally murdering his fellow Armenian soldier, is keeping the media
in a frenzy.
Not without a reason as, crudely and cynically disregarding its written
commitment, Azerbaijan did not only give a presidential pardon to
the murderer but it is celebrating him as a national hero and has
even promoted him. President Ilham Aliyev is talking about some kind
of early summer political agreement, which in the light of rumours
about Azerbaijan buying Hungarian government bonds is putting the
Hungarian government in a rather awkward situation. In the meantime,
Yerevan is furious and is calling upon Armenians throughout the world
to protest, and although up to now only Azeri homepages have been
hacked, it is talking about a war. Furthermore, it has broken off
diplomatic relations with Hungary which, asserting its good faith and
the legality of the procedure, is demanding an explanation from Baku,
and considers the case to be closed.
However, the row is continuing and it is to be feared that we have
fallen into our own trap. Willy-nilly, we have fallen into the middle
of an extremely acrimonious conflict, and it is no use for us to try
to pretend otherwise, this is the truth. Of course, all this is not
surprising at all because the Azeris and Armenians have been in a
war with each other for nearly 25 years and this is not much changed
by the fact that these days the weapons are rarely booming around
Nagorno-Karabakh. The situation is tense and rather loaded from a
geopolitical point of view, and the nerves are stretched to breaking
point. In this situation a spark is enough for the ardent hatred to
catch fire. In this situation no one could have been surprised - or
if they were, it is too bad - that the extradition of Safarov would
kindle those ambers. There was a good chance that Baku would use the
arrival of the officer, who is respected as a hero, to demonstratively
strengthen the national feelings, and a country that "enjoyed" the
hospitality of the Turks for 150 years should hardly be surprised
at the devious release of Safarov. That Azerbaijan undertook to have
the sentence completed? So what! The national ideal overwrites the law.
Therefore, we must not hide our heads in the sand, and must not
pretend that nothing has happened because it is to no effect that
the affair is formally clean, in the above context the extradition
raises certain moral issues. Let us not forget that, in the eyes of
the civilized world, Safarov is not a hero but a brutal murderer. In
this situation the government can be expected not to consider the case
to be closed but to provide a transparent and detailed explanation
about the circumstances of the extradition and in general about the
entire unfortunate issue. If it does not do this, it will only fuel
further guessing and malicious conjecture.
As it is, we are already not short of these. For example, we can
see with astonishment how many Armenian sympathizers have emerged
all of a sudden. People who had no idea about or were not at all
interested in the cultural and religious closeness of the Hungarian
and Armenian nations are now unfolding the flag for Yerevan. This is
no coincidence because this unfortunate case has come in handy for
everyone from Obama to the Hungarian opposition who are not interested
in the eastern opening that is to broaden Hungary's room for manoeuvre.
The main lesson of the past few days is the fact that the world is
hypocritical, and it is driven by interests, rather than values. There
is a good chance that in the coming days we will be able to experience
on our own skin how important the power of the lobbies is, and instead
of indignation, from Washington to Brussels, we should be working
on building up an influence that at least approaches the influence
of Armenians. However, all this does not change the basic fact that
murderers belong in prison.
[Translated from Hungarian]