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SAFAROV "BLAME GAME" IGNORES CIVILIAN SUFFERING IN AZERBAIJAN
Sacramento Bee
Sept 12 2012
CA
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 12, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Azerbaijani
authorities are growing concerned over the increasing condemnation
and hostility in the wake of the release of Ramil Safarov. Following
speculation that the Armenian government is considering putting a
$500,000 bounty on the head of the army officer, people gathered in
the capital of Yerevan calling for the "opening of a hunting season
for Safarov." Buses were covered with bulls eye images portraying
Safarov as a target and photos of him were burned by activists.
"We are seriously concerned about these violent reactions in Armenia,
condemning a fully legal extradition and subsequent amnesty," said
Azerbaijani MP Elkhan Suleymanov, Vice President of the Euronest
Parliamentary Assembly. "Now they are calling for revenge in ways
that are absolutely outside of international legality," he added.
"Playing a dangerous blame game is likely to create even more national
heroes and enemies and will hardly contribute to people and stability
in the Caucasus."
Safarov was convicted of murdering an Armenian soldier during a NATO
training course in Budapest in 2004, claiming that he spat on the
Azerbaijani flag and humiliated him. Hungary extradited Safarov to
Azerbaijan after serving years of time in prison, and his subsequent
release drew attention again to the lingering Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, where the illegal Armenian occupation has been condemned
by the UN.
"The Safarov controversy risks undermining Yerevan's responsibilities
in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and justifying the illegal Armenian
occupation of about 20 per cent of our country," Suleymanov said,
further stressing that four United Nations resolutions calling for
Armenia's immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal from the
occupied territories have not been enforced. Analogous resolutions
have been approved by PACE, OSCE and the European Parliament.
Safarov's case has drawn similarities with Varoujan Grabedian's
extradition to Armenia in 2001. A member of the terrorist organisation
ASALA, Grabedian was convicted for a bombing which killed eight
people at Orly Airport in Paris, France. Although he was sentenced to
life imprisonment, appeals from the Armenian government culminated
in his extradition to Armenia, despite the fact that Grabedian is
not an Armenian citizen but a Syrian. In Yerevan, he was hailed a
national hero.
"Killings by Armenian snipers along the cease-fire line alone,
accounted for 1,250 civilian deaths and 1,300 wounded over the last
20 years," said Sulemanov. He added that children have been targeted
repeatedly through explosive toys, elderly visiting the graves of their
relatives were shot and numerous explosions have killed civilians in
buses, trains, ferries and open places.
"The international community should help to stop the continuous breach
of the cease-fire to prevent the recurrence of civilian casualties,"
Suleymanov said.
SOURCE Azerbaijan Monitor
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/12/4811583/safarov-blame-game-ignores-civilian.html
From: A. Papazian
Sacramento Bee
Sept 12 2012
CA
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 12, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Azerbaijani
authorities are growing concerned over the increasing condemnation
and hostility in the wake of the release of Ramil Safarov. Following
speculation that the Armenian government is considering putting a
$500,000 bounty on the head of the army officer, people gathered in
the capital of Yerevan calling for the "opening of a hunting season
for Safarov." Buses were covered with bulls eye images portraying
Safarov as a target and photos of him were burned by activists.
"We are seriously concerned about these violent reactions in Armenia,
condemning a fully legal extradition and subsequent amnesty," said
Azerbaijani MP Elkhan Suleymanov, Vice President of the Euronest
Parliamentary Assembly. "Now they are calling for revenge in ways
that are absolutely outside of international legality," he added.
"Playing a dangerous blame game is likely to create even more national
heroes and enemies and will hardly contribute to people and stability
in the Caucasus."
Safarov was convicted of murdering an Armenian soldier during a NATO
training course in Budapest in 2004, claiming that he spat on the
Azerbaijani flag and humiliated him. Hungary extradited Safarov to
Azerbaijan after serving years of time in prison, and his subsequent
release drew attention again to the lingering Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, where the illegal Armenian occupation has been condemned
by the UN.
"The Safarov controversy risks undermining Yerevan's responsibilities
in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and justifying the illegal Armenian
occupation of about 20 per cent of our country," Suleymanov said,
further stressing that four United Nations resolutions calling for
Armenia's immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal from the
occupied territories have not been enforced. Analogous resolutions
have been approved by PACE, OSCE and the European Parliament.
Safarov's case has drawn similarities with Varoujan Grabedian's
extradition to Armenia in 2001. A member of the terrorist organisation
ASALA, Grabedian was convicted for a bombing which killed eight
people at Orly Airport in Paris, France. Although he was sentenced to
life imprisonment, appeals from the Armenian government culminated
in his extradition to Armenia, despite the fact that Grabedian is
not an Armenian citizen but a Syrian. In Yerevan, he was hailed a
national hero.
"Killings by Armenian snipers along the cease-fire line alone,
accounted for 1,250 civilian deaths and 1,300 wounded over the last
20 years," said Sulemanov. He added that children have been targeted
repeatedly through explosive toys, elderly visiting the graves of their
relatives were shot and numerous explosions have killed civilians in
buses, trains, ferries and open places.
"The international community should help to stop the continuous breach
of the cease-fire to prevent the recurrence of civilian casualties,"
Suleymanov said.
SOURCE Azerbaijan Monitor
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/12/4811583/safarov-blame-game-ignores-civilian.html
From: A. Papazian