U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JOHN SARBANES DESCRIBED ALIYEV’S PARDON OF SAFAROV AS A “DIRECT AFFRONT TO NATO”
18:33, 15 March, 2013
YEREVAN, MARCH 15, ARMENPRESS: U.S. Representative John Sarbanes in
his specch in the House of Representatives described Aliyev’s pardon
of Safarov as a “direct affront to NATO”. As reports Armenpress citing
ANCA, Mr. Sarbanes stated that the United States must continue to
press for resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh dispute through the good
offices and mechanisms of international actors such as the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “We must be ever vigilant in
decrying actions that undermine such efforts. I concur with the Obama
administration’s demand for an explanation of Azerbaijan’s pardoning
of Ramil Safarov. Azerbaijan’s decision to pardon Ramil Safarov after
he was convicted by a Hungarian court for the murder of an Armenian
soldier while participating in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program
is not only unconscionable, it is a direct affront to NATO and its
efforts to bring peace and stability to conflict regions through the
Partnership for Peace program,” said John Sarbanes.
U.S. Representative highlighted that peace and stability in the
Caucuses is in the national interest of the United States and our
European allies. That means achieving a peaceful resolution to
the rising tensions between the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan A
final status of the Nagorno Karabakh dispute must be achieved without
resorting to war and must be in keeping with democratic principles,
the rule of law and the protection of individual human rights.