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YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Apostolic Church had a “very important role” in the restoration of relations between Armenia and Hungary, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Yerevan on October 27.
He said his visit “puts an end to the decade when Armenia and Hungary didn’t have any diplomatic ties and contacts.”
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Hungary were severed in 2012 by then-President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan after Hungary extradited Ramil Safarov, the convicted murderer of an Armenian officer, to Azerbaijan. Armenian military officer Lt. Gurgen Margaryan was murdered by Azerbaijani military officer Ramil Safarov during a February 2004 training course organized by NATO in Hungary.
Gurgen Margaryan was asleep in his room when Safarov attacked him with an axe.
During the trial in Hungary, Safarov admitted in court to having killed Margaryan because of his hatred towards Armenia and Armenians. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hungarian court. However, in 2012 Hungary extradited him to Azerbaijan upon Baku’s request. He was released upon arrival, glorified on the state-level and pardoned by President Aliyev. On the same day, then-President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan severed diplomatic relations with Hungary.
10 years later, in 2022, Armenia and Hungary agreed to restore diplomatic relations.
“We made a decision with the Armenian Foreign Minister to restore diplomatic relations and build the kind of cooperation that would serve the interests of the two nations and countries. This restoration will help us, because there is common basis, Christianity, both countries are Christian countries for many centuries. We, Hungarians, are proudly saying that we enjoy a Christian statehood for over 1000 years, and then we come to Armenia, we see the dates and immediately become humbler. Certainly, Christianity, the Armenian Christian Church played a very important role in the restoration of our relations,” Péter Szijjártó said on October 27.
Before the decision on restoring the relations, Hungary expressed its good intentions by mediating the release of 5 Armenian POWs from Azerbaijan, he said.