From the International Press: Armenia Cuts Ties with Hungary on All Levels over Azerbaijan Killer Pardon
31 August 2012 Last updated at 18:47 GMT
Armenia cuts ties with Hungary over Azerbaijan killer pardon
Ramil Safarov was greeted as a national hero in Baku, reports say
Armenia says it is severing diplomatic ties with Hungary after the release of an Azeri army officer convicted of murdering an Armenian soldier.
The Azeri serviceman, Ramil Safarov, was given a life sentence for hacking Armenian Gurgen Markarian to death with an axe in 2004 in Budapest.
On Friday, Safarov was flown to Baku and pardoned, despite Baku's assurances that his sentence would be enforced.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bitter war over an enclave in the early 1990s.
Armenia said on Friday that Hungary had made a "grave mistake" in sending Safarov back to Azerbaijan.
"With their joint actions, Azerbaijan and Hungary opened the door to the recurrence of such crimes," President Serzh Sarkisian said in comments release by his press office.
"I cannot put up with this. The republic of Armenia cannot put up with this," the president added.
The Hungarian authorities said they had returned Safarov to his homeland only after receiving assurances from the Baku government that his sentence would be enforced.
Safarov killed Gurgen Markarian at a military academy in Budapest, where both servicemen attended English-language courses organised by Nato.
During his trial in Hungary, Safarov said that the Azeri-Armenian war over Nagorno-Karabakh and insults from the Armenian officer were at the root of his actions.
Hungary and Azerbaijan have so far made no public comment on the case.
Azerbaijan and Armenia, both former Soviet republics, fought a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in the early 1990s, which left some 30,000 people dead, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Armenia-backed authorities are currently controlling Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies within Azerbaijan.
Despite a 1994 ceasefire, skirmishes continue on the borders of the disputed territory.
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Armenia breaks ties with Hungary over clemency for murderer
Published: 31 August, 2012, 23:14
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.(AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)
Armenia has cut diplomatic ties with Hungary, after Budapest allowed an Azerbaijani who had been convicted of killing a visiting Armenian citizen to return to his home country, where he was pardoned.
“I officially declare that starting today we cease diplomatic relations and all official ties with Hungary,” said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at a meeting with UN ambassadors.
The announcement comes as Budapest permitted Azerbaijani Ramil Safarov return to Azerbaijan after he was been convicted of murdering and Armenian in Budapest.
In 2004, Safarov went to Budapest to study English within NATO's Partnership for Peace program, and while there murdered Armenian Gurgen Margaryan, who was attending the same course.
Safarov killed Margaryan with an ax as he slept.
In his initial testimony, Safarov explained that in 1993, when Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, the majority ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan where he was born, members of his family were killed in the resulting military conflict. The implication was that Safarov killed Margaryan to avenge his relatives.
Later, however, the murderer changed his words, claiming miscommunication between him and his interpreters. In a later, revised version of his testimony, Safarov insisted that Margaryan had insulted Azerbaijan's national flag.
The trial was held in Budapest in 2006, and an Hungarian court sentenced Safarov to life in prison without the right to appeal for pardon for 30 years.
Accompanied by a police official (L) and an interpretor (R), Azerbaijani army officier Lieutenant Ramil Safarov (C) listens to the verdict.(AFP Photo / Attila Kisbenedek)
On Friday, however, in accordance with the Strasbourg Convention on the transfer of sentenced persons, Safarov was extradited to his home country.
On the same day, he was pardoned by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. This was despite Baku's assurances that the convict would not be released earlier than 2037.
Azerbaijani television showed Safarov smiling as he walked through a crowd of his supporters, his shoulders covered with the Azerbaijani flag, and a bouquet of roses in his hands.
President Sargsyan explicitly accused Hungarian authorities of collusion with Azerbaijani authorities.
“The Hungarian authorities have to understand that they made a big mistake. They, actually, made a deal with Azerbaijani authorities,” he said.
A demonstration took place in front of the Hungarian Consulate in Yerevan following the news. Demonstrators held banners reading “Shame on Hungary” and “We demand justice.”
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has seriously complicated relations between the neighboring Caucasus states. First as Soviet republics and then as independent nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over the area from 1988 till 1994. Despite ongoing discussions between the two countries, with Russia acting as an active mediator, they still have not reached a formal solution to the dispute. Currently the territory is ruled by the local government, which receives backing from Yerevan.
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Armenia says suspends Hungary ties in soldier row
Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:15pm GMT
YEREVAN (Reuters) - Armenia said it was suspending diplomatic relations with Hungary on Friday because it had allowed an Azeri soldier who killed an Armenian officer in 2004 to return home, where he was immediately pardoned and freed.
"Hungarian authorities should understand that they have made a grave mistake," President Serzh Sarksyan told his Security Council in a statement posted on his website.
"They de-facto made a deal with the Azeri authorities."
The row erupted after Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev pardoned Ramil Safarov, who had been sentenced to life in prison for the 2004 killing of Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan during NATO training in Hungary.
Hungary agreed to return Safarov to Azerbaijan, where he arrived on Friday, after it had received assurances he would serve out his sentence.
Within hours of the announcement of Safarov's release, Sarksyan called an emergency meeting of his Security Council.
"I officially announce that as of today we cease all diplomatic relations and all ties with Hungary," Sarksyan said in a press release distributed by his administration.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the war between ethnic Azeris and Armenians which erupted in 1991 over the mainly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. A ceasefire was signed in 1994 but relations remain tense.
Cross-border clashes this year have prompted worries of a resumption of fighting in a region crisscrossed by energy pipelines to Europe.
Nagorno-Karabakh has run its own affairs with the heavy military and financial backing of Armenia since the war, when Armenian-backed forces seized control of the enclave and seven surrounding Azeri districts.
Russia, France and the United States have led years of mediation efforts under the auspices of the OSCE. Baku and Yerevan failed to agree at talks in June last year and the angry rhetoric between them has worsened since then.
Hungary has been developing economic ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan and gave backing to the Nabucco pipeline project seen as the main route for Azeri gas exports to Europe. Hungarian media reported that Azerbaijan could lend Hungary 2-to-3 billion euros.
Oil-producing Azerbaijan, which is host to oil majors including BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil, frequently threatens to take the mountain enclave back by force, and is spending heavily on its armed forces.
(Reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan; Writing Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Michael Roddy)
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Armenia Breaks Off Diplomatic Relations with Hungary
World | August 31, 2012, Friday| 170 views
Ramil Safarov, who committed the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan. Photo by RIA Novosti
Armenia has suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary over the extradition to Azerbaijan of a man who murdered an Armenian army officer, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on Friday.
"Today we are suspending diplomatic relations and all official ties with Hungary," Sargsyan said at an emergency meeting with representatives of foreign diplomatic missions in Armenia.
Relations between Armenia and Hungary worsened following Budapest's decision to extradite toAzerbaijan Ramil Safarov, serving a live sentence for the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan.
In February 2004, Azerbaijani army officer Safarov killed Margaryan with an ax while the latter was sleeping. Both men were attending an English language course in Budapest as part of NATO's Partnership for Peace program.
In April 2006, a Hungarian court sentenced Safarov to live imprisonment. However, on Friday he was extradited to Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.
"The Hungarian authorities should understand that they made a gross mistake," President Sargsyan said, as quoted by RIA Novosti. "As a matter of fact, they made a deal with the Azerbaijani authorities."
Armenian media reported earlier that Azerbaijan intended to purchase Hungarian government bonds worth EUR 2-3 B. Armenian analysts said the deal was Baku's quid pro quo for extraditing Safarov.
"This was not an ordinary murder. It was an ethnic murder that has been justified by a EU member," Sargsyan said, urging the Armenian legislative assembly to take up the issue.
Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh erupted in the late 1980s. Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region on Azerbaijani territory with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population, claims independence from Azerbaijan. The war is estimated to have left more than 30,000 people dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994. Since then the region has remained under de facto Armenian control.
Tags: Armenia, azerbaijan, Hungary, Budapest, Murder, NATO, Serzh Sergsyan, Armenian President, Ilham Aliyev, Azeri President, pardon, pardoned
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=142832
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Azerbaijan Pardons, Frees Convicted Killer
BUDAPEST, Hungary August 31, 2012 (AP)
An Azerbaijani military officer sentenced to life in prison in Hungary was sent back to his homeland and, despite assurances, was immediately pardoned and freed by Azerbaijan's president.
Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by the Budapest City Court after he confessed to hacking to death Lt. Gurgen Markarian of Armenia while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course.
Hungary had sent Safarov back to Azerbaijan on Friday only after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that Safarov's sentence, which included the possibility of parole after 25 years, would be enforced.
In a statement, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Safarov was being "released from serving his life sentence."
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EurasiaNet (Soros): Azerbaijan: Freedom and Fanfare for Killer of Armenian Army Officer
August 31, 2012 - 10:07am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Has justice been served when the person who "practically" severs the head of a sleeping man with an axe can return home to a hero's welcome?
That's the question that comes to mind with the return to Azerbaijan of Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who was serving a life sentence in Hungary for the brutal murder of 25-year-old Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Margarian at a 2004 NATO training in Budapest.
Extradited from Hungary, Lt. Safarov is not only walking freely, but also taking bows in front of the cameras.
Upon arrival in Baku, he spoke of his sufferings “in a prison in a foreign land” and thanked Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for pardoning him.
Armenia may be a bitter enemy and all for Azerbaijan, but the reaction to this murder, an act worthy of the Hostel horror film series, shows just how deeply seeded the raging propaganda against Armenia (and, in turn, Armenia's angry denunciations of Azerbaijan) has become in the minds of many. The gruesome crimes committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis during the Nagorno-Karabakh war are cited as a justification of sorts for both Safarov’s acts and his release.
Not all Azerbaijanis agree that Safarov ranks as a national hero, but that detail, no doubt, will be lost on Yerevan as it debates a response to Safarov's release. The topic reportedly was on the agenda of an August 31 meeting of the National Security Council convened by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.
Meanwhile, as for 35--year-old Safarov, he's "ready to serve my country, my people again."
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Azerbaijani military officer serving life for murder in Hungary is freed when sent home
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 31, 5:21 PM
BUDAPEST, Hungary — An Azerbaijani military officer sentenced to life in prison in Hungary for hacking to death an Armenian officer was sent back to his homeland on Friday and, despite assurances, immediately pardoned and freed by his country’s president.
Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by the Budapest City Court after he confessed to killing Lt. Gurgen Markarian of Armenia while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course. Azerbaijan and Armenia are ex-Soviet neighbors who have been locked in a long-standing conflict over the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hungary returned the 35-year-old Safarov to Azerbaijan only after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that Safarov’s sentence, which included the possibility of parole after 25 years, would be enforced.
“The Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan has further informed the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary that Ramil Sahib Safarov’s sentence will not be modified but will immediately continue to be enforced, based on the Hungarian judgment,” the Hungarian ministry said in a statement issued before the news of Safarov’s release was known.
The ministry said it based its decision on the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
In a brief statement posted in English on his website, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev decreed Friday that Safarov “should be freed from the term of his punishment.”
Hungary’s Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Safarov’s release.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, but has remained under the control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a six-year separatist war in 1994. Diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict have brought no result, and shootings on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have been common.
During his trial in Budapest, Safarov claimed that the conflict was at the root of his actions and that he used an ax to kill Markarian while the victim was sleeping in a dormitory room after the Armenian repeatedly provoked and ridiculed him.
“My conscience was clouded as a result of the insults and humiliating and provoking behavior, and I lost all control,” Safarov told the court in April 2006.
Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan’s army out of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. A 1994 cease-fire ended the six-year war that killed 30,000 people and left about 1 million homeless and the enclave is now under the control of ethnic Armenians.
Safarov’s lawyers said that his parents and relatives were exiled from Nagorno-Karabakh during the war and that two of his relatives were killed by ethnic Armenian separatists.
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Aida Sultanova in Baku, Azerbaijan, contributed to this report.
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