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CUNNING POLITICIAN
by Attila Seres
Nepszabadsag
6 September 2012
Hungary
"Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is a well-prepared, resolute,
clever and strategically-thinking negotiating partner with a
well-developed vision of the world," Karoly Banai, Ferenc Gyurcsany's
former foreign and security policy adviser, who during the previous
Socialist governments attended high-level Hungarian-Azeri talks,
has told Nepszabadsag.
He said that during the meetings President Aliyev became increasingly
open; it was apparent that he spoke good English, and appeared to
be a politician with good reasoning and negotiating skills, with
expertise in strategy and security policy issues. Not many current
heads of state can be described as able to think in terms of broad
security policy concepts. Aliyev is one of them. For example, he
painted a very surprising, and probably accurate, picture of the major
powers' presence in the Caucasus, their conflicts of interest, and the
inter-relations of the countries of the region. He has a vision. he
sees security policy in spatial terms, and he does not conceal his
future goals. He did not share all of this with us, our source said,
and it was apparent that he keeps a tight hold on the reins.
Responding to a question on Aliyev's impact on his negotiating
partners, whether he is able to influence the other side, and whether
at the official talks, the transfer of Ramil Safarov was raised as a
secondary issue, Karoly Banai said that Aliyev never raised this issue,
but the Azeri ambassador in Budapest, for whom this probably was his
sole task at his posting in Hungary, contacted him at least twice and
tried to intervene informally for the purpose of the transfer of the
"axe murderer". He described Safarov as a poor halfwit, and referred
to this when requesting his return home, so that his relatives at
home could visit him as they were unable to travel to Budapest. The
transfer naturally did not happen because the Ministry of Justice
was of the view that all possibilities of legal remedy in the case
of Safarov had been exhausted. Experts believed there was a fear that
after being transferred, Baku would release Safarov, who had brutally
killed an Armenian military officer.
According to our source, although we can assume that the Orban
government was very amateurish, the scale of this was not enough for
them to be so vulgarly dumped on by the Azeris. It is more likely
that the decision on the transfer was reached on the basis of some
consideration in return, which could not necessarily be expressed
in figures (a preferential decision in a business matter). President
Aliyev's immediate pardon, the spectacular nature of the release (a
separate aircraft, promotion) reveal that the measure was thought
through, the consequences had been assessed, and that it had been
planned in advance. [passage omitted]
[Translated from Hungarian]
by Attila Seres
Nepszabadsag
6 September 2012
Hungary
"Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is a well-prepared, resolute,
clever and strategically-thinking negotiating partner with a
well-developed vision of the world," Karoly Banai, Ferenc Gyurcsany's
former foreign and security policy adviser, who during the previous
Socialist governments attended high-level Hungarian-Azeri talks,
has told Nepszabadsag.
He said that during the meetings President Aliyev became increasingly
open; it was apparent that he spoke good English, and appeared to
be a politician with good reasoning and negotiating skills, with
expertise in strategy and security policy issues. Not many current
heads of state can be described as able to think in terms of broad
security policy concepts. Aliyev is one of them. For example, he
painted a very surprising, and probably accurate, picture of the major
powers' presence in the Caucasus, their conflicts of interest, and the
inter-relations of the countries of the region. He has a vision. he
sees security policy in spatial terms, and he does not conceal his
future goals. He did not share all of this with us, our source said,
and it was apparent that he keeps a tight hold on the reins.
Responding to a question on Aliyev's impact on his negotiating
partners, whether he is able to influence the other side, and whether
at the official talks, the transfer of Ramil Safarov was raised as a
secondary issue, Karoly Banai said that Aliyev never raised this issue,
but the Azeri ambassador in Budapest, for whom this probably was his
sole task at his posting in Hungary, contacted him at least twice and
tried to intervene informally for the purpose of the transfer of the
"axe murderer". He described Safarov as a poor halfwit, and referred
to this when requesting his return home, so that his relatives at
home could visit him as they were unable to travel to Budapest. The
transfer naturally did not happen because the Ministry of Justice
was of the view that all possibilities of legal remedy in the case
of Safarov had been exhausted. Experts believed there was a fear that
after being transferred, Baku would release Safarov, who had brutally
killed an Armenian military officer.
According to our source, although we can assume that the Orban
government was very amateurish, the scale of this was not enough for
them to be so vulgarly dumped on by the Azeris. It is more likely
that the decision on the transfer was reached on the basis of some
consideration in return, which could not necessarily be expressed
in figures (a preferential decision in a business matter). President
Aliyev's immediate pardon, the spectacular nature of the release (a
separate aircraft, promotion) reveal that the measure was thought
through, the consequences had been assessed, and that it had been
planned in advance. [passage omitted]
[Translated from Hungarian]