SAVING LIEUTENANT SAFAROV
Vestnik Kavkaza
Sept 3 2012
Russia
Author: Mikhail Belyayev, exclusively to VK
The last day of summer was marked for Azerbaijan and Armenia by
an event which caused a storm of jubilation in Baku and a highly
emotional reaction, bordering on hysteria, in Yerevan. On the morning
of July 31, Azerbaijani news portals published the following news:
Hungary had extradited to Azerbaijan Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who
was formerly sentenced to life imprisonment by a Hungarian court for
the murder of Gurgen Markarian.
Initially, not everyone believed in this news. However, after a couple
of hours the information was confirmed by Azerbaijani officials: the
officer actually was returned to his homeland. At the airport, Safarov
found out about the decree of President Ilham Aliyev, who pardoned
the officer. In addition, the Ministry of Defense gave the rank of
Major to the freed soldier, and he was paid a salary for the time he
was in custody. In addition, the Ministry granted him an apartment.
The exemption of Safarov was a complete surprise to the public in
Azerbaijan: there was no advance preparation for the return of Safarov
to the country. There was not even any “leak” in the opposition media.
Government sources later explained that the negotiations with
the Hungarian side on the fate of Safarov were conducted in
strict confidence, because there were serious concerns that the
negotiations could be prevented from outside. “For almost a year,
under the strict control of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev,
secret negotiations and correspondence took place, including with the
law enforcement agencies in Hungary. An agreement reached during the
visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Azerbaijan played
a decisive role in this,” the head of the Department of External
Relations of the presidential administration of Azerbaijan, Novruz
Mammadov, told the media, commenting on the extradition to Azerbaijan
and the pardon of Safarov, who had been convicted by a Hungarian
court to life imprisonment.
35-year-old Safarov, who participated in one of NATO programs in
Hungary in 2004, was accused of the murder of the Armenian officer
Gurgen Margaryan, who, according to him, had insulted the Azerbaijani
flag. By the verdict of the Hungarian court, Safarov was sentenced to
life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 30 years. The
case was of a pronounced emotional color: Safarov himself experienced
exile from his native land and the loss of family members killed by
the Armenian military. At the trial the officer did not repent his
crime, and therefore the sentence was harsh.
Since then, the Azerbaijani side has attempted to extradite Safarov
home, and each time to no avail. Only now, after 8 years, was Baku
able to rescue the officer from a Hungarian prison. Here, perhaps,
the most interesting part of the story began, which has already
acquired the character of an international scandal.
Undoubtedly, the vast majority of Azerbaijani citizens welcomed the
return of Safarov to his homeland and his pardon. This is confirmed
by the analysis of the content of the views of Azerbaijani users of
social networks, and the fact that jubilant people went out on the
streets to celebrate the release of the officer, and many of them went
to see Safarov and to meet with him personally. Such a reaction, which
Yerevan is now trying to put down to barbarism and rampant nationalism,
is understandable and natural, given the current realities in the
region. Azerbaijan is in a state of war with Armenia, there are over
a million refugees and internally-displaced people in the country,
and one fifth of its territory is occupied by Armenian armed forces:
it would be naive to believe that in Azerbaijan in such circumstances
as Safarov’s action would be considered to be a crime.
It is noteworthy that in Armenia a member of the terrorist organization
ASALA, Monte Melkonyan, is considered a national hero; he is guilty
of the murder of peaceful Turkish and Azerbaijani citizens.
Melkonyan, who organized the capture of the Turkish Consulate in Paris,
during which the consul Inal was seriously wounded, and a security
official Ozen was killed, was eliminated by Azerbaijani intelligence
during the Karabakh war. He was posthumously awarded the title of
National Hero of Armenia, and a school and a university in Yerevan
are named after him, as well as a unit of the Armenian army.
Against this background, such an hysterical response to the delight
of the Azerbaijani public to mark the liberation of Ramil Safarov is
at best hypocrisy.
The Armenian leadership did not expect Ramil Safarov to be extradited
to Azerbaijan. In this regard, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan
spoke at an emergency meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions
accredited in Armenia and heads of international organizations, where
he very emotionally announced the termination of diplomatic relations
with Hungary. “The joint actions of the authorities of Hungary and
Azerbaijan have opened the door for the recurrence of such crimes.
With this decision, they send a signal to murderers. They now know
that murder motivated by ethnic or religious hatred can go unpunished.
I cannot tolerate this! Armenia cannot tolerate this! The Armenian
people will not forgive this! I officially announce that today we
are suspending diplomatic relations and official relations with
Hungary,” the Armenian president said. The same day, a crowd of
angry protesters threw tomatoes at the Honorary Consulate of Hungary
in Yerevan and destroyed the Hungarian flag. The Hungarian Foreign
Ministry expressed regret at the rupture of diplomatic relations
with Armenia, not failing to mention that the country had acted in
accordance with the European Convention.
Sargsyan was no less emotional at the emergency meeting of the Security
Council of Armenia: “You know what happened: the nothing that killed
Gurgen Margaryan has been returned by the Hungarian authorities to
Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani President pardoned this killer.
Naturally, we cannot accept this, and we must determine our future
actions.” At the end of the meeting, Sargsyan asked NSS Director
Gorik Hakobyan “to stay for a special order”. What kind of instruction
Sargsyan could give to the NSS in connection with the release of Ramil
Safarov is anyone’s guess. One thing is clear: the Armenian president
will now employ harsh rhetoric, trying to distract the public from
another aspect of the extradition of Safarov, inconvenient for him:
whatever emotional cues might sound today in Yerevan, the decision
of the Hungarian authorities to extradite the convicted officer
to Azerbaijan is a serious foreign policy failure of Yerevan. And
the most unpleasant point for Serzh Sargsyan is the fact that the
current ruling team, headed by the President of the Republic, is
responsible for this failure, because it was not able to mobilize
Armenian diplomacy, to use the resources of the Armenian lobby and
prevent the return home of the Azerbaijani officer, after which he
was quite predictably pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev. Moreover,
the reaction of Yerevan hardly came as a surprise to Baku. The focus
of the Azerbaijani public today is on other events related to the
“Safarov affair,” in particular, the reaction of third countries.
The first evaluations and comments in response to the extradition
and pardon of Safarov sounded from Washington. The administration of
the U.S. President made the following statement: “President Obama is
deeply concerned about the decision of the President of Azerbaijan
about Ramil Safarov’s pardon after his return from Hungary. Safarov
recognized that he had killed Gurgen Magaryan in Budapest in 2004 and
was serving a life sentence in Hungary for this murder. We informed
the Azerbaijani authorities about our disappointment with the decision
to pardon Safarov. This move is contrary to the current efforts to
restrict regional tensions and promote reconciliation. The United
States also is waiting for an explanation from Hungary regarding its
decision to extradite Safarov to Azerbaijan.”
Baku reacted very cautiously and calmly. According to many in
Azerbaijan, if the White House is so zealously concerned about regional
reconciliation, it should also condemn regular military exercises of
the Armenian army in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, which also
do not contribute to reducing tensions in the conflict zone.
The head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Presidential
Administration, Novruz Mammadov, said in an interview to 1news that
the extradition of Safarov is the subject of bilateral relations
between Azerbaijan and Hungary and is implemented in the framework
of international law. “Therefore, Azerbaijan will not give any
explanation to any country on this issue,” Mammadov said. Fuad
Alasgarov, the head of the department on work with law enforcement
agencies of the presidential administration, told the Azerbaijani
media the legal side of the issue: “The procedure for the transfer of
sentenced persons to serve their sentence is governed by the European
Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, adopted by the Council
of Europe in 1983. Hungary and the Republic of Azerbaijan ratified
this Convention. According to this Convention, a person convicted
in one of the contracting parties may be transferred to the other
contracting party to serve his sentence. Regarding the pardon of
Safarov, we should clarify that the sentence of the Hungarian court
limited only the ability of early release of the convicted person,
within 30 years from the date of sentencing. This restriction does not
apply to the possibility of pardon or amnesty of the convicted person.
Ramil Safarov was detained on 19 February 2004, that is, he served more
than eight and a half years of his sentence. The act of pardon should
be viewed as a substitute for a life sentence to the sentence that the
convict has already served. Accordingly, Ramil Safarov was released.”
The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan also commented on the statement of
the White House: “It is surprising that the U.S. government interferes
in the relations of two independent states – Azerbaijan and Hungary.
The issue of the transfer of Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov to
Azerbaijan from Hungary came under the laws of the two countries. We
also understand that the American position is connected with the
domestic political context prior to the elections in the United
States.” The last remark deserves special attention. The Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry transparently recalls that this statement, negative
for Azerbaijan in form and substance, is no more than a nod to the
Armenian lobby, after which radical foreign policy moves are unlikely
to follow. In fact, given the fact that the U.S. presidential race
is in full swing, such a step by the Obama administration is quite
understandable. At the same time, we can almost certainly say that
Washington will not go beyond statements and will hardly jeopardize
the growing strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, built on the
pragmatic interest of the United States. Here, in particular, the
matter is the collaboration in the context of the Iranian nuclear
program and the energy security of Europe. Clearly, the U.S. will
not risk long-term cooperation with Azerbaijan in favor of short-term
domestic political interests.
Finally, both in Azerbaijan and abroad, everybody is aware that
the release of Ramil Safarov is a strong move for Baku. Even if now
Azerbaijan will face international criticism due to the pardon of
Ramil Safarov, the political effect of this step is difficult to
overestimate.
Firstly, the demonstration of the increased influence of Azerbaijan
was very convincing.
Secondly, achieving the extradition and pardon of Safarov, the
president made foreign partners understand that it is useless to expect
softness from Azerbaijan on the issue of the conflict with Armenia.
Thirdly, it is an important political message: Azerbaijan does not
betray its people.
Fourthly, the release of Ramil Safarov and the very cool-headed
response to the criticism from abroad is a strong move by the current
government, taking into account the upcoming 2013 presidential
election. The president, among other things, made it clear that the
opinions and expectations of the people for him are more important
than the possible negative reaction from the outside.
Of course, something else is also clear: the fact that Safarov has been
pardoned will continue to be used in the information war of Armenia
against Azerbaijan in the future. After all, according to Zhvanetski,
“the best alibi is to be the victim.” The fact that Armenia learned
this simple truth well is beyond doubt. “The image of the victim” has
been exploited here for decades. But though Yerevan tries to extract
its propaganda dividends from the “Safarov affair” today, the decision
of the authorities of Hungary was a too clear demonstration that the
balance of power in Europe is not shifting in favour of Armenia.
From: Baghdasarian