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Budapest Times, Hungary
Sept 9 2012
States of denial
Backgrounder: Repatriation and release of jailed Azeri murderer
threatens to reignite frozen conflict, raises questions of Hungarian
realpolitik
Posted on 09 September 2012, Author: Robert Hodgson
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (left) was the guest of honour at a dinner
held by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in June on the sidelines of a an
energy policy forum in Baku.
Hungary's government was again in diplomatic hot water this week
following the transfer last Friday of convicted murderer Ramil Sahib
Safarov home to Azerbaijan. Upon arrival in Baku, the soldier was
pardoned by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, promised eight years' back
pay, promoted to major and feted as a national hero.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's conservative government insists that it
had received Azerbaijan's assurance that Safarov would serve the
remainder of his 30-year jail term in an Azeri prison. Both Hungary
and Azerbaijan have denied that there was any backroom deal involved
in the handover.
Alleged EUR?3 billion bond deal
However, there was enough circumstantial evidence to convince Orbán's
opponents to the contrary. The prime minister had travelled at the end
of June to participate in an energy policy forum in the Azeri capital
Baku, where Aliyev held a dinner in his honour. Some weeks later, the
financial news magazine Figyelő reported, on 23 August, that Hungary
was in negotiations with Azerbaijan over the sale of EUR 2-3 billion
worth of government bonds.
This was denied the following day when László András Borbély, the
deputy CEO of state debt management company ÁKK, told business news
station Gazdasági Rádió that no debt issuances will be made while
Hungary is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a
second multi-billion euro bailout. Azerbaijan's state oil fund issued
its own denial on Tuesday: there are no plans to purchase Hungarian
bonds.
Ambassador on the carpet
As news of Safarov's pardon made headlines around the world, the Azeri
ambassador to Budapest was summoned for an interview at the Foreign
Ministry on Sunday, where state secretary for foreign affairs Zsolt
Németh handed over a diplomatic note. `Hungary considers it
unacceptable and expresses utter disapproval at the fact that Ramil
Safarov, who was sentenced for manslaughter [in fact, the conviction
was for premeditated murder] received pardon from the President of
Azerbaijan,' ran the note, which was posted in English on the
government's website.
The Foreign Ministry went on to say that the government had received
assurances from Baku that Safarov would not be freed upon his return
home. `Hungary refuses to accept and condemns the action of
Azerbaijan, which contradicts the relevant rules of international law
and sharply contrasts the undertaking of the Azeri side in this
matter, confirmed by the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of
Azerbaijan in his letter XX-NBSKFO/3743/4/2012 of 15 August 2012
addressed to the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of
Hungary,' the diplomatic note continued.
Clause and effect
However, that letter referred to Clause 9 in the 1983 Strasbourg
Convention on the transfer on sentenced persons, which prevents the
recipient country from altering the length of the prison term. Critics
quickly noted that it made no mention of Clause 12, which states that
existing powers of pardon in force in the states involved are not
affected by the treaty. Azerbaijan is now quite open over its
apparently long-standing intentions.
Convicted murderer Ramil Sahib Safarov was serving 30 years in prison
in Hungary. The Azeris had been making efforts for years to secure his
release.
Release a long-term goal
In an interview posted the previous day on the English-language Azeri
website news.az, a politician from the oil-rich southern Caucasian
country said that securing Safarov's release had been the main purpose
of its diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis Hungary in recent years. `As a
person who directly engaged in the affairs of Safarov from the first
days of his arrest, I can say that all the work implemented for his
release has been realised by the decision of President Ilham Aliyev,'
Zahid Oruj, a member of Azerbaijan's Parliamentary Committee for
Defence and Security, was quoted as saying.
`In addition, I recall that at that time, i.e. when the incident
happened with Ramil Safarov, in Hungary there was no embassy of
Azerbaijan. Now I can report that the main purpose of establishment of
the Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary was to ensure the legal protection
of Ramil Safarov. Azerbaijan in a short time was able to bring its
relations with Hungary to the highest level,' Oruj said. The
`incident' to which Oruj alludes occurred in 2004, and constitutes one
part of the affair that does not appear to be in dispute.
Revenge, served cold
Safarov admitted entering the room of the sleeping Gurgen Margaryan,
26, and hacking him to death with an axe. Safarov's bloody act was
witnessed by Margaryan's Hungarian roommate (supporters of Margaryan
have posted Hungarian police and court transcripts online). The men
were soldiers in their respective national armies, staying in Budapest
to attend a NATO-sponsored English language course. Safarov justified
his actions as those of a soldier who had seen family members and
countrymen killed or driven from their homes during the Armenia-backed
bid for independence by the disputed Azeri territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.
Frozen conflict
The majority ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan declared
independence in 1991, after three years of agitating to join Armenia
within the former USSR. Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian majority fought
for independence with political and military support from Armenia, a
bloody war that was halted in 1994 only after tens of thousands had
been killed or displaced. Since then an uneasy Russian-mediated
ceasefire has been in place and the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe's Minsk group, including France and the US, has
been trying to broker a peaceful settlement since 2008.
Neither Azerbaijan nor the international community have recognised
Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state ` in fact a UN resolution in
2008 reaffirmed international respect for Azerbaijan's borders. With
the province's population now 95 per cent Armenian, it remains ` along
with other `frozen conflict' areas on the fringes of what was once the
USSR ` a political powder keg.
http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/09/09/states-of-denial/
Sept 9 2012
States of denial
Backgrounder: Repatriation and release of jailed Azeri murderer
threatens to reignite frozen conflict, raises questions of Hungarian
realpolitik
Posted on 09 September 2012, Author: Robert Hodgson
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (left) was the guest of honour at a dinner
held by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in June on the sidelines of a an
energy policy forum in Baku.
Hungary's government was again in diplomatic hot water this week
following the transfer last Friday of convicted murderer Ramil Sahib
Safarov home to Azerbaijan. Upon arrival in Baku, the soldier was
pardoned by Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, promised eight years' back
pay, promoted to major and feted as a national hero.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's conservative government insists that it
had received Azerbaijan's assurance that Safarov would serve the
remainder of his 30-year jail term in an Azeri prison. Both Hungary
and Azerbaijan have denied that there was any backroom deal involved
in the handover.
Alleged EUR?3 billion bond deal
However, there was enough circumstantial evidence to convince Orbán's
opponents to the contrary. The prime minister had travelled at the end
of June to participate in an energy policy forum in the Azeri capital
Baku, where Aliyev held a dinner in his honour. Some weeks later, the
financial news magazine Figyelő reported, on 23 August, that Hungary
was in negotiations with Azerbaijan over the sale of EUR 2-3 billion
worth of government bonds.
This was denied the following day when László András Borbély, the
deputy CEO of state debt management company ÁKK, told business news
station Gazdasági Rádió that no debt issuances will be made while
Hungary is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a
second multi-billion euro bailout. Azerbaijan's state oil fund issued
its own denial on Tuesday: there are no plans to purchase Hungarian
bonds.
Ambassador on the carpet
As news of Safarov's pardon made headlines around the world, the Azeri
ambassador to Budapest was summoned for an interview at the Foreign
Ministry on Sunday, where state secretary for foreign affairs Zsolt
Németh handed over a diplomatic note. `Hungary considers it
unacceptable and expresses utter disapproval at the fact that Ramil
Safarov, who was sentenced for manslaughter [in fact, the conviction
was for premeditated murder] received pardon from the President of
Azerbaijan,' ran the note, which was posted in English on the
government's website.
The Foreign Ministry went on to say that the government had received
assurances from Baku that Safarov would not be freed upon his return
home. `Hungary refuses to accept and condemns the action of
Azerbaijan, which contradicts the relevant rules of international law
and sharply contrasts the undertaking of the Azeri side in this
matter, confirmed by the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of
Azerbaijan in his letter XX-NBSKFO/3743/4/2012 of 15 August 2012
addressed to the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of
Hungary,' the diplomatic note continued.
Clause and effect
However, that letter referred to Clause 9 in the 1983 Strasbourg
Convention on the transfer on sentenced persons, which prevents the
recipient country from altering the length of the prison term. Critics
quickly noted that it made no mention of Clause 12, which states that
existing powers of pardon in force in the states involved are not
affected by the treaty. Azerbaijan is now quite open over its
apparently long-standing intentions.
Convicted murderer Ramil Sahib Safarov was serving 30 years in prison
in Hungary. The Azeris had been making efforts for years to secure his
release.
Release a long-term goal
In an interview posted the previous day on the English-language Azeri
website news.az, a politician from the oil-rich southern Caucasian
country said that securing Safarov's release had been the main purpose
of its diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis Hungary in recent years. `As a
person who directly engaged in the affairs of Safarov from the first
days of his arrest, I can say that all the work implemented for his
release has been realised by the decision of President Ilham Aliyev,'
Zahid Oruj, a member of Azerbaijan's Parliamentary Committee for
Defence and Security, was quoted as saying.
`In addition, I recall that at that time, i.e. when the incident
happened with Ramil Safarov, in Hungary there was no embassy of
Azerbaijan. Now I can report that the main purpose of establishment of
the Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary was to ensure the legal protection
of Ramil Safarov. Azerbaijan in a short time was able to bring its
relations with Hungary to the highest level,' Oruj said. The
`incident' to which Oruj alludes occurred in 2004, and constitutes one
part of the affair that does not appear to be in dispute.
Revenge, served cold
Safarov admitted entering the room of the sleeping Gurgen Margaryan,
26, and hacking him to death with an axe. Safarov's bloody act was
witnessed by Margaryan's Hungarian roommate (supporters of Margaryan
have posted Hungarian police and court transcripts online). The men
were soldiers in their respective national armies, staying in Budapest
to attend a NATO-sponsored English language course. Safarov justified
his actions as those of a soldier who had seen family members and
countrymen killed or driven from their homes during the Armenia-backed
bid for independence by the disputed Azeri territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.
Frozen conflict
The majority ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan declared
independence in 1991, after three years of agitating to join Armenia
within the former USSR. Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenian majority fought
for independence with political and military support from Armenia, a
bloody war that was halted in 1994 only after tens of thousands had
been killed or displaced. Since then an uneasy Russian-mediated
ceasefire has been in place and the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe's Minsk group, including France and the US, has
been trying to broker a peaceful settlement since 2008.
Neither Azerbaijan nor the international community have recognised
Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state ` in fact a UN resolution in
2008 reaffirmed international respect for Azerbaijan's borders. With
the province's population now 95 per cent Armenian, it remains ` along
with other `frozen conflict' areas on the fringes of what was once the
USSR ` a political powder keg.
http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/09/09/states-of-denial/