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Armenian FM says Safarov Affair damaging to peace efforts for Karabakh
http://armenianow.com/karabakh/39994/armenia_foreign_minister_nalbandyan_karabakh_azerb aijan
Karabakh | 19.09.12 | 10:38
Official Yerevan sees `big damage' to international efforts to broker
a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict caused by the pardon in
Azerbaijan of an army officer who had axe-murdered an Armenian in
Hungary and was serving a life sentence in that country before being
handed over to Baku authorities last month.
Speaking at a joint press conference with David Lidington, the British
Foreign Office minister for Europe, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan referred to the case of Ramil Safarov as another example of
why Azerbaijan can't be trusted by the international community.
`Azerbaijan has frequently shown that it not only doesn't respect the
reached agreements but even ignores them, also during the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks,' the Armenian minister said.
The British government official said that the United Kingdom agrees
with international criticism of the Azerbaijani government's decision
to pardon and promote Safarov. `We have welcomed and support the
statements that have been issued by the Minsk Group co-chairs, the
European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE on this case,' he
said.
At the same time, he expressed hope that Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
talks will resume soon despite the scandal. `I think the fact that
there are, yes, significant British commercial interests, through BP
and other companies, in Azerbaijan means that the region is less
distant from us than might otherwise be the case,' he said, as quoted
by RFE/RL's Armenian Service. `It means the United Kingdom has a clear
interest in trying to promote peaceful reconciliation and stability in
the South Caucasus.'
http://armenianow.com/karabakh/39994/armenia_foreign_minister_nalbandyan_karabakh_azerb aijan
Karabakh | 19.09.12 | 10:38
Official Yerevan sees `big damage' to international efforts to broker
a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict caused by the pardon in
Azerbaijan of an army officer who had axe-murdered an Armenian in
Hungary and was serving a life sentence in that country before being
handed over to Baku authorities last month.
Speaking at a joint press conference with David Lidington, the British
Foreign Office minister for Europe, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandyan referred to the case of Ramil Safarov as another example of
why Azerbaijan can't be trusted by the international community.
`Azerbaijan has frequently shown that it not only doesn't respect the
reached agreements but even ignores them, also during the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks,' the Armenian minister said.
The British government official said that the United Kingdom agrees
with international criticism of the Azerbaijani government's decision
to pardon and promote Safarov. `We have welcomed and support the
statements that have been issued by the Minsk Group co-chairs, the
European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE on this case,' he
said.
At the same time, he expressed hope that Armenian-Azerbaijani peace
talks will resume soon despite the scandal. `I think the fact that
there are, yes, significant British commercial interests, through BP
and other companies, in Azerbaijan means that the region is less
distant from us than might otherwise be the case,' he said, as quoted
by RFE/RL's Armenian Service. `It means the United Kingdom has a clear
interest in trying to promote peaceful reconciliation and stability in
the South Caucasus.'