VAHAN HOVHANNESYAN'S LETTER TO EP: OUR EUROPEAN COLLEAGUES SHOULD HAVE EXPLAINED TO THEIR AZERI COUNTERPARTS THIS DIFFERENCE
Panorama.am
13/09/2012
Elkhan Suleymanov, Head of the Azerbaijani Delegation to the Euronest
PA, recently addressed a letter to the European Parliament and members
of Euronest PA, trying to mitigate the impression of the European
community over Ramil Safarov's pardon.
Vahan Hovhannesyan, member of the Bureau of the Euronest PA,
Vice-President of the Euronest PA, addressed a letter to the European
Parliament in response.
"Dear Colleagues,
I have to admit that I was a little perplexed when I saw the letter
of Mr. Elkhan Suleymanov, Head of the Azerbaijani Delegation to the
Euronest PA, addressed to the President and the members of the European
Parliament, as well as the members of the Euronest PA. In that letter
Mr. Suleymanov tried to convince that the transfer of the sadistic
murderer Ramil Safarov by Hungarian authorities to Azerbaijan, his
immediate release, and further heroization were absolutely normal
and judicially explainable developments. I'm not going to dwell on
the legal aspects of this sequence of shameful acts.
As we can see any kind of legal disagreement with Azerbaijani position
can be dismissed by Mr.Suleymanov as purely emotional. As for the
members of the Azerbaijani Euronest Delegation, whose opinion has
been expressed in Suleymanov's letter, no wonder that we see their
smiling, happy faces on the photos with Ramil Safarov. Obviously,
they consider as normal not only the above mentioned chain of the
last events, but also the deed itself that triggered all the turmoil:
the cold-blooded murder, which they even do not see as a crime,
because the victim was an Armenian.
I'm sure that the legal experts who had worked on the Strasbourg
Convention could never imagine that their creation would be used as
a mean to deliberately set a criminal free.
But I think that the problem lies not in the differences between the
European and Azerbaijani perceptions of justice and law, but in the
field of mentality. In his letter Mr. Suleymanov is stressing the
Azerbaijani casualties of the armed conflict between Azerbaijan and
Mountainous Karabagh. He only fails to mention that no Azerbaijani
fighter was ever axe hacked by Armenian soldiers in the sleep.
So, what is the most surprising, not only in Mr. Suleymanov's letter,
but in the general attitude of the Azerbaijani elite is that they
never distinguish between the honest soldier and the night murderer.
Maybe there are exceptions in Azerbaijani society, however,
unfortunately, nobody has ever heard their voice.
I think, before it will become possible to discuss with Azerbaijan the
issues of the legal approximation with EU, our European colleagues
should have explained to their Azerbaijani counterparts this
difference."
From: A. Papazian
Panorama.am
13/09/2012
Elkhan Suleymanov, Head of the Azerbaijani Delegation to the Euronest
PA, recently addressed a letter to the European Parliament and members
of Euronest PA, trying to mitigate the impression of the European
community over Ramil Safarov's pardon.
Vahan Hovhannesyan, member of the Bureau of the Euronest PA,
Vice-President of the Euronest PA, addressed a letter to the European
Parliament in response.
"Dear Colleagues,
I have to admit that I was a little perplexed when I saw the letter
of Mr. Elkhan Suleymanov, Head of the Azerbaijani Delegation to the
Euronest PA, addressed to the President and the members of the European
Parliament, as well as the members of the Euronest PA. In that letter
Mr. Suleymanov tried to convince that the transfer of the sadistic
murderer Ramil Safarov by Hungarian authorities to Azerbaijan, his
immediate release, and further heroization were absolutely normal
and judicially explainable developments. I'm not going to dwell on
the legal aspects of this sequence of shameful acts.
As we can see any kind of legal disagreement with Azerbaijani position
can be dismissed by Mr.Suleymanov as purely emotional. As for the
members of the Azerbaijani Euronest Delegation, whose opinion has
been expressed in Suleymanov's letter, no wonder that we see their
smiling, happy faces on the photos with Ramil Safarov. Obviously,
they consider as normal not only the above mentioned chain of the
last events, but also the deed itself that triggered all the turmoil:
the cold-blooded murder, which they even do not see as a crime,
because the victim was an Armenian.
I'm sure that the legal experts who had worked on the Strasbourg
Convention could never imagine that their creation would be used as
a mean to deliberately set a criminal free.
But I think that the problem lies not in the differences between the
European and Azerbaijani perceptions of justice and law, but in the
field of mentality. In his letter Mr. Suleymanov is stressing the
Azerbaijani casualties of the armed conflict between Azerbaijan and
Mountainous Karabagh. He only fails to mention that no Azerbaijani
fighter was ever axe hacked by Armenian soldiers in the sleep.
So, what is the most surprising, not only in Mr. Suleymanov's letter,
but in the general attitude of the Azerbaijani elite is that they
never distinguish between the honest soldier and the night murderer.
Maybe there are exceptions in Azerbaijani society, however,
unfortunately, nobody has ever heard their voice.
I think, before it will become possible to discuss with Azerbaijan the
issues of the legal approximation with EU, our European colleagues
should have explained to their Azerbaijani counterparts this
difference."
From: A. Papazian