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Financial Mirror
September 7, 2012 Friday
NATO chief "deeply concerned" over Azeri killer pardon
"I DON'T WANT WAR" NATO's chief said on Friday he was "deeply
concerned" about Azerbaijan's pardon of a soldier who had murdered an
Armenian, adding it had not helped efforts to end a territorial
dispute between the neighbouring nations.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Enhanced Coverage
LinkingAnders Fogh Rasmussen -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews,
Most Recent 60 Dayswarned the Caucasus Mountain countries they should
not risk returning to war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"There is no military solution," he told students during a visit to a
diplomatic academy in Azerbaijan's capital Baku.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev angered Armenia and world powers by
pardoning Safarov after the army officer was repatriated last week
from Hungary, where he had served eight years of a life term.
Safarov had been convicted of murdering an Armenian officer during a
NATO-sponsored training session in Budapest in 2004.
But the 35-year-old was treated as a hero upon his return, promoted to
major and given an apartment and back pay for his years in jail.
"I am deeply concerned by the Azerbaijani decision to pardon Ramil
Safarov. The act he committed in 2004 was a crime which should not be
glorified, as this damages trust and does not contribute to the peace
process," said Rasmussen.
After meeting Rasmussen later on Friday, Azeri President Aliyev
defended his decision to pardon Safarov, saying it was perfectly
legal.
Safarov's repatriation "was carried out in accordance with European
conventions, and his release in accordance with Azerbaijan's
constitution," he told journalists at a joint briefing with Rasmussen.
He added Azerbaijan wanted to resolve the Nagoro-Karabakh dispute peacefully.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan said on Friday he also did not want
a return to war and suggested the international community should be
tougher on Azerbaijan.
"I'm a man, who has seen a war and that's why I don't war another
war," he told OSCE diplomats at a meeting in Yerevan.
Ethnic Armenian forces defeated Azeri troops and took control of the
mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region in a war that erupted as the
Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. A 1994 ceasefire halted the
conflict which killed 30,000 people and forced about a million, mostly
Azeris, to flee. Fighting still breaks out intermittently across the
ceasefire line and Aliyev has repeatedly said Azerbaijan may one day
take the region by force.
Countless meetings between presidents and international mediation led
by the United States, Russia and France have brought no deal to end
the dispute in the strategic South Caucasus, a route for Westward
energy exports from the Caspian Sea area, including Azeri oil and gas.
Hungarian authorities say Azerbaijan had promised to uphold the
sentence handed down to Safarov, who entered Lieutenant Gurgen
Markaryan's room as he slept and attacked him with a knife and axe,
nearly severing his head.
Armenia has suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary, and opponents
of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban say the decision to send
Safarov home was suspicious at a time when he was trying to establish
closer economic ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian
September 7, 2012 Friday
NATO chief "deeply concerned" over Azeri killer pardon
"I DON'T WANT WAR" NATO's chief said on Friday he was "deeply
concerned" about Azerbaijan's pardon of a soldier who had murdered an
Armenian, adding it had not helped efforts to end a territorial
dispute between the neighbouring nations.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Enhanced Coverage
LinkingAnders Fogh Rasmussen -Search using:Biographies Plus NewsNews,
Most Recent 60 Dayswarned the Caucasus Mountain countries they should
not risk returning to war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"There is no military solution," he told students during a visit to a
diplomatic academy in Azerbaijan's capital Baku.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev angered Armenia and world powers by
pardoning Safarov after the army officer was repatriated last week
from Hungary, where he had served eight years of a life term.
Safarov had been convicted of murdering an Armenian officer during a
NATO-sponsored training session in Budapest in 2004.
But the 35-year-old was treated as a hero upon his return, promoted to
major and given an apartment and back pay for his years in jail.
"I am deeply concerned by the Azerbaijani decision to pardon Ramil
Safarov. The act he committed in 2004 was a crime which should not be
glorified, as this damages trust and does not contribute to the peace
process," said Rasmussen.
After meeting Rasmussen later on Friday, Azeri President Aliyev
defended his decision to pardon Safarov, saying it was perfectly
legal.
Safarov's repatriation "was carried out in accordance with European
conventions, and his release in accordance with Azerbaijan's
constitution," he told journalists at a joint briefing with Rasmussen.
He added Azerbaijan wanted to resolve the Nagoro-Karabakh dispute peacefully.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan said on Friday he also did not want
a return to war and suggested the international community should be
tougher on Azerbaijan.
"I'm a man, who has seen a war and that's why I don't war another
war," he told OSCE diplomats at a meeting in Yerevan.
Ethnic Armenian forces defeated Azeri troops and took control of the
mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region in a war that erupted as the
Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. A 1994 ceasefire halted the
conflict which killed 30,000 people and forced about a million, mostly
Azeris, to flee. Fighting still breaks out intermittently across the
ceasefire line and Aliyev has repeatedly said Azerbaijan may one day
take the region by force.
Countless meetings between presidents and international mediation led
by the United States, Russia and France have brought no deal to end
the dispute in the strategic South Caucasus, a route for Westward
energy exports from the Caspian Sea area, including Azeri oil and gas.
Hungarian authorities say Azerbaijan had promised to uphold the
sentence handed down to Safarov, who entered Lieutenant Gurgen
Markaryan's room as he slept and attacked him with a knife and axe,
nearly severing his head.
Armenia has suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary, and opponents
of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban say the decision to send
Safarov home was suspicious at a time when he was trying to establish
closer economic ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian