ACTION ALERT: ANCA CALLS ON COMMUNITY TO PROTEST AXE-MURDERER SAFAROV’S RELEASE
Weekly Staff
August 31, 2012
The ANCA released the following action alert today, after the
publication of reports that Safarov has been extradited and has
received a hero’s welcome in Baku.
Ramil Safarov ACTION ALERT: ANCA Calls on Community to Protest Axe
Murderer Safarov’s Release
Ramil Safarov
Tell Hungary’s Ambassador that you are profoundly troubled by their
immoral and ill-advised decision to extradite (release) Ramil Safarov,
the unrepentant axe-murderer who killed Armenian lieutenant Gurgen
Margaryan, in his sleep, during a 2004 NATO training exercise.
(Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev immediately pardoned and freed
Safarov upon his arrival in Baku.)
Call, email, or post your thoughts (firmly, but politely), explaining
that this grave injustice compromises Hungary’s international standing,
emboldens Azerbaijani leaders to be even more aggressive, and
undermines the prospects for a real and lasting Nagorno Karabakh peace.
Ambassador Gyorgy Szapary Embassy of Hungary Call: (202) 362-6730
Email: [email protected]
BACKGROUND:
The ANCA has written to Ambassador Szapary, on August 29th, prior to
Safarov’s release, to urge the government of Hungary to not extradite
him, in the interest both of justice and the cause of peace in the
Caucasus. (The text of this letter is provided below).
Earlier today, the ANCA called on President Obama to “publicly
criticize Hungary’s extradition of a known and unapologetic terrorist,
to openly condemn Baku’s subsequent release of Safarov, and to
demand his immediate re-incarceration for the remainder of his life
sentence.” The ANCA letter, signed by Chairman Ken Hachikian, stressed
that: “A lack of a forceful American response to this grave injustice
would, in addition to compromising our nation’s moral standing,
undermine prospects for peace by emboldening an increasingly heavily
armed Azerbaijani government to continue inciting its own citizens
to violence and to encourage it to continue making threats and to
commit actual acts of aggression.”
ANCA LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:
August 31, 2012
The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States The White
House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I am writing, in the spirit of your June 18, 2012 joint statement with
the leaders of Russia and France, about the peaceful settlement of
Nagorno Karabakh, to call upon you to condemn Azerbaijan’s release of
Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military who was recent
extradited from Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence-with
no expression of either regret or remorse-for the pre-meditated axe
murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during
a NATO Partnership for Peace program.
As expected, Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his
act of murder, by officials of Ilham Aliyev’s government and much
of Azerbaijani society. The Azerbaijani government apparently had
committed to Hungary that they would continue his prison term; yet,
Aliyev immediately pardoned him.
The facts of this brutal murder are as clear as the imperative
for our government, which serves as a mediator of this conflict
through the Minsk Group of the OSCE, to publicly criticize Hungary’s
extradition of a known and unapologetic terrorist, to openly condemn
Baku’s subsequent release of Safarov, and to demand his immediate
re-incarceration for the remainder of his life sentence. A lack of a
forceful American response to this grave injustice would, in addition
to compromising our nation’s moral standing, undermine prospects
for peace by emboldening an increasingly heavily armed Azerbaijani
government to continue inciting its own citizens to violence, and
encouraging it to continue its threats and actual acts of aggression.
I would like to also use this opportunity, to once again, request that
you hold a personal meeting with the broad-based leadership of the
Armenian American community. As I have written to you in the past, the
absence of direct discussions between you and your Armenian American
constituents, a dialogue you pledged as a candidate to undertake,
is unhealthy both for our democracy as well as for our diplomacy.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Kenneth V. Hachikian
Chairman
ANCA LETTER TO THE HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR:
August 29, 2012
His Excellency Gyorgy Szapary The Ambassador of Hungary to the
United States of America Embassy of Hungary 3910 Shoemaker Street,
NW Washington, DC 20008
Dear Mr. Ambassador:
I am writing, in the spirit of the longstanding friendship between
the Hungarian and Armenian peoples, to share with you our concerns
regarding published accounts that the government of Hungary may
be considering the extradition to Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov,
a Lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, who is currently serving a
life sentence in your country for the February 2004 premeditated murder
of Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, during a NATO Partnership
for Peace program.
As you know, Safarov was convicted for murdering Lieutenant Margaryan
in his sleep. The brutal violence of Safarov’s cold-blooded,
pre-planned axe murder – during which he nearly severed his victim’s
head – is matched only by his chilling lack of remorse or repentance
for his crime. If he were to be returned to Baku, he would, very
likely, be welcomed, as his act of murder was at the time, by
government officials, political leaders, and many in Azerbaijani
society. Safarov’s extradition, in addition to representing a
serious breach of justice in a clear case of homocide, would send a
dangerous signal to the Azerbaijani government, emboldening it to
continue inciting its own citizens to violence and, more broadly,
encouraging it to continue undertaking threats and actual acts of
aggression against both Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
We are, as you can imagine, hopeful that the accounts that have been
published on this matter are unfounded and that consideration is not,
in fact, being given to Safarov’s extradition. We would, of course,
welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your staff to address
our concerns in greater detail, and to discuss any other issues of
common concern. Thank you for your kind consideration of our views
on this matter.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Aram S. Hamparian
Executive Director