Moskovsky Komsomolets, Russia
Sept 5 2012
HUNGARY: I AM NOT GUILTY!
The "broad" gesture may become the beginning of a new war
by Elena Gamayun, Elena Borisova
BY ITS IRRESPONSIBILITY HUNGARY ACTUALLY PUT THE TRANSCAUCASIAN REGION
ON A VERGE OF A NEW WAR; The broad gesture of Hungary that extradited
Ramil Safarov, killer of an Armenian officer, to Azerbaijan (he was
immediately pardoned there and also treated very kindly) became the
stone that might cause an avalanche in international policy. It
threatened not only the Armenian-Hungarian relations but also the
beginning dialog of Armenia with turkey, the fate of the negotiation
process on Nagorno-Karabakh and even interaction of countries inside
of the CIS.
The broad gesture of Hungary that extradited Ramil Safarov, killer of
an Armenian officer, to Azerbaijan (he was immediately pardoned there
and also treated very kindly) became the stone that might cause an
avalanche in international policy. It threatened not only the
Armenian-Hungarian relations but also the beginning dialog of Armenia
with turkey, the fate of the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh
and even interaction of countries inside of the CIS.
The bureau for coordination of struggle against organized crime and
other dangerous kinds of crime on the territories of the CIS countries
found itself in a difficult situation. Meeting of the council of
interior ministers of the CIS countries will take place in Baku
between September 6 and 8 to discuss changing of the chair of the
council for the next year. The problem is that Armenia is the chain in
the council now and according to regulations of the council rotation
is done according to the Latin alphabet. This meant that at this
council Armenia had to transfer its powers of the chair to Azerbaijan.
However, the Armenian delegation already reported that because of the
actions of Baku it would not take part in the meeting of the council
and would not transfer the powers of the chair to Azerbaijan too. Head
of the police of Armenia reported that he would hand these powers over
to the Interior Minister of Russia. Thus, it will be up to Russia to
find a way out.
NATO is another structure that has "suffered" in this conflict. NATO
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is going to arrive to Yerevan.
It is already clear that behavior of Hungary, a NATO member, will
become the main topic of communication with President Sargsian. We
should not forget that the fact of the cruel murder took place at the
training courses of the alliance in the framework of Partnership for
Peace program in Budapest. Hungary was very upset then that the evil
deed of Safarov cast a shadow not only on the country but also on the
NATO structures that failed to provide security for participants of
the partnership program. Now the shadow grew to an indecent size
because a NATO country actually contributed to liberation of the
killer. The Armenian party also reported that Turkey, another NATO
country, took an active part in negotiations between Azerbaijan and
Hungary about extradition of Safarov. This circumstance shows that
some sub-alliances are formed inside of the alliance with their narrow
geopolitical interests, which is not very good for the NATO image.
Possible participation of Turkey in the extradition will not be
beneficial for the already complicated Armenian-Turkish relations. For
instance, the Foreign Minister of Armenia already announced that
participation of Turkey in the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh
was impossible and negotiations on this issue were impossible now at
all.
The action of Hungary also hinders relations of Armenia with the EU.
Armenian politicians already expressed discontent with the fact that
European structures did not react to the accident duly. Almost five
days passed since the moment of the "heroic" return of Safarov to the
native country but only the US, Russia and France characterized this
event negatively. Along with this, Hungary declared protest to the
Ambassador of Azerbaijan too saying that Baku simply deceived it.
During the negotiations about extradition it was said that Safarov
sentenced to lifelong imprisonment would be put to prison after
arrival to Azerbaijan. The Foreign Ministry of Hungary stated that it
was a shock for them that Safarov was not only released but was also
given a new apartment, a title of a major and a new post in the armed
forces of Azerbaijan. However, this "regret" is only an indicator of
professionalism of the Foreign Ministry of Hungary. In case of due
studying of the issue it was possible to guess that Azerbaijani
authorities would hardly imprison the person whom they proposed to
make "hero of Azerbaijan."
[Translated from Russian]
Sept 5 2012
HUNGARY: I AM NOT GUILTY!
The "broad" gesture may become the beginning of a new war
by Elena Gamayun, Elena Borisova
BY ITS IRRESPONSIBILITY HUNGARY ACTUALLY PUT THE TRANSCAUCASIAN REGION
ON A VERGE OF A NEW WAR; The broad gesture of Hungary that extradited
Ramil Safarov, killer of an Armenian officer, to Azerbaijan (he was
immediately pardoned there and also treated very kindly) became the
stone that might cause an avalanche in international policy. It
threatened not only the Armenian-Hungarian relations but also the
beginning dialog of Armenia with turkey, the fate of the negotiation
process on Nagorno-Karabakh and even interaction of countries inside
of the CIS.
The broad gesture of Hungary that extradited Ramil Safarov, killer of
an Armenian officer, to Azerbaijan (he was immediately pardoned there
and also treated very kindly) became the stone that might cause an
avalanche in international policy. It threatened not only the
Armenian-Hungarian relations but also the beginning dialog of Armenia
with turkey, the fate of the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh
and even interaction of countries inside of the CIS.
The bureau for coordination of struggle against organized crime and
other dangerous kinds of crime on the territories of the CIS countries
found itself in a difficult situation. Meeting of the council of
interior ministers of the CIS countries will take place in Baku
between September 6 and 8 to discuss changing of the chair of the
council for the next year. The problem is that Armenia is the chain in
the council now and according to regulations of the council rotation
is done according to the Latin alphabet. This meant that at this
council Armenia had to transfer its powers of the chair to Azerbaijan.
However, the Armenian delegation already reported that because of the
actions of Baku it would not take part in the meeting of the council
and would not transfer the powers of the chair to Azerbaijan too. Head
of the police of Armenia reported that he would hand these powers over
to the Interior Minister of Russia. Thus, it will be up to Russia to
find a way out.
NATO is another structure that has "suffered" in this conflict. NATO
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is going to arrive to Yerevan.
It is already clear that behavior of Hungary, a NATO member, will
become the main topic of communication with President Sargsian. We
should not forget that the fact of the cruel murder took place at the
training courses of the alliance in the framework of Partnership for
Peace program in Budapest. Hungary was very upset then that the evil
deed of Safarov cast a shadow not only on the country but also on the
NATO structures that failed to provide security for participants of
the partnership program. Now the shadow grew to an indecent size
because a NATO country actually contributed to liberation of the
killer. The Armenian party also reported that Turkey, another NATO
country, took an active part in negotiations between Azerbaijan and
Hungary about extradition of Safarov. This circumstance shows that
some sub-alliances are formed inside of the alliance with their narrow
geopolitical interests, which is not very good for the NATO image.
Possible participation of Turkey in the extradition will not be
beneficial for the already complicated Armenian-Turkish relations. For
instance, the Foreign Minister of Armenia already announced that
participation of Turkey in the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh
was impossible and negotiations on this issue were impossible now at
all.
The action of Hungary also hinders relations of Armenia with the EU.
Armenian politicians already expressed discontent with the fact that
European structures did not react to the accident duly. Almost five
days passed since the moment of the "heroic" return of Safarov to the
native country but only the US, Russia and France characterized this
event negatively. Along with this, Hungary declared protest to the
Ambassador of Azerbaijan too saying that Baku simply deceived it.
During the negotiations about extradition it was said that Safarov
sentenced to lifelong imprisonment would be put to prison after
arrival to Azerbaijan. The Foreign Ministry of Hungary stated that it
was a shock for them that Safarov was not only released but was also
given a new apartment, a title of a major and a new post in the armed
forces of Azerbaijan. However, this "regret" is only an indicator of
professionalism of the Foreign Ministry of Hungary. In case of due
studying of the issue it was possible to guess that Azerbaijani
authorities would hardly imprison the person whom they proposed to
make "hero of Azerbaijan."
[Translated from Russian]