Author: Badalian Vardan

NATO CHIEF ‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’ OVER AZERI AX MURDERER’S PARDON

Bloomberg
Sept 6 2012

By Helena Bedwell and Zulfugar Agayev – Sep 6, 2012 6:38 AM ET

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was “deeply
concerned” by Azerbaijan’s pardon and promotion of a convicted murderer
who killed an Armenian army officer with an ax.

Ramil Safarov, who was serving a life sentence for slaying Gurgen
Margaryan in his sleep in Budapest eight years ago, was pardoned by
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and promoted after Hungary transferred
him home Aug. 31.

“The act he committed in 2004 was a terrible crime and should not be
glorified,” Rasmussen said today in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

“The pardon damages trust and doesn’t contribute to the peace process.”

Energy-exporter Azerbaijan fought Armenia over the Nagorno- Karabakh
enclave after the 1991 Soviet breakup, leaving tens of thousands
dead and more than 1 million displaced. While hostilities ended with
a Russia-brokered cease-fire accord in 1994, the sides have yet to
sign a peace agreement.

Rasmussen said there must be no return to armed conflict.

“Tensions must be reduced and concrete steps must be taken to promote
regional cooperation and reconciliation,” he said.

THE DECISION TO SUSPEND RELATIONS WITH HUNGARY WON’T AFFECT ARMENIA-EU TALKS

Mediamax
Sept 6 2012
Armenia

Yerevan /Mediamax/. The decision to suspend diplomatic relations with
Hungary won’t affect Armenia-EU talks on Association Agreement.

Anca Paduraru, Press Officer of EU Commissioner for Enlargement and
European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, told Mediamax about this.

When asked about Commissioner Fule’s attitude to Armenia’s decision
to suspend relations with Hungary, Anca Paduraru said:

“There is nothing more we would like to add compared to what we
have already said in the statement: the EU representatives are in
contact with the relevant authorities and will continue to follow
the situation closely.”

Mediamax reports that addressing the meeting of foreign ministers of
“Eastern Partnership” member countries with the EU leaders on July 23,
2012 Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said that two years
after the start of the negotiations on Association Agreement with the
EU, Armenia made significant progress by agreeing on 28 chapters out
of 29.

“Relying on the positive experience gained during the negotiations
on the Association Agreement we also expect progress in the Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU. Our goal is to
come close to the finish of negotiations before the Vilnius Summit,”
said Edward Nalbandyan.

The Vilnius Summit of the “Eastern Partnership” is due to be held in
fall 2013.

Minister Nalbandyan also said then that the work over the agreements
on visa regime facilitation and readmission is completed and Armenia
expects them to be signed and ratified in the nearest future.

LET’S NOT BECOME A “BESIEGED FORTRESS”
by Ara Tadevosyan

Mediamax
Sept 4 2012
Armenia

Director of Mediamax

Over the last days our diplomats have been working to make so that the
European Union issued a favorable statement on Ramil Safarov’s case.

The statement was made yesterday but it was like a cold shower
for many.

Although the European Union expressed concern by the decision of the
Azerbaijani President but, actually, did not condemn it. Moreover,
the EU has in fact “covered” Hungary’s decision to transfer Safarov
to Azerbaijan. It was also quite cynical that the EU had included
traditional words about “reconciliation” into the statement about
granting pardon to a killer.

The work of our Foreign Ministry is another topic. It’s obvious that if
the ministry had worked better the EU wouldn’t make such a statement:
If they hadn’t prevented Safarov’s extradition to Azerbaijan, at
least they could get ready for it having informed the world about
the possible deal beforehand. I think, at the press conference with
his Argentinean counterpart, Foreign Minister Nalbandyan must come
up with an assessment about the activity of the Ministry.

After yesterday’s statement by the European Union, a lot of
opinions were voiced like: “Europe has finally discredited itself”,
“No rapprochement with such Europe”, etc. Let the advocates of such
approaches pardon me, but they are either hopeless romantics or they
simply understand nothing in international relations and politics.

Politics is based only on interests. It’s a waste of time trying to
fight it or making soulful statements.

This way or another, the EU should have naturally defended its member
state – Hungary. When on August 31 the President of Armenia spoke
about the suspension of relations with Hungary, many people did not
understand what had happened indeed. This is what happened: for the
first time in its history, Armenia has made a demarche against EU
and NATO member state. Let’s put aside the motives and the propriety
of the demarche and let’s consider only the fact. In this case it’s
not that significant that Hungary is a “new” or “second-grade” member
of the EU and NATO and its Prime Minister Victor Orban has been long
annoying the EU leadership. It is significant that such super-powerful
“clubs” do not betray their members so easily. The brightest example
is Greece. Whole Europe understands that it’s almost impossible to
save the Greek economy from collapse but they keep on taking efforts.

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO). Can you remember any cases when Yerevan criticized Belarus
or Tajikistan? There haven’t been such cases. Every union is based
on a dominant interest (in our case it is the provision of physical
security) which governs all other interests. Of course, there are
tremendous differences in the system of values of EU, NATO and CSTO,
but there is one principle common to all of them – the member state
is always allowed more then a partner.

When the President announced about the suspension of relations with
Hungary, a few remembered that Armenia conducts negotiations with EU on
Association Agreement and Armenia is close to signing the Visa Regime
Facilitation Agreement. The following scenario is also quite possible:
Hungary, a member of the European Union, may hamper the negotiations
just like Cyprus does in case of Turkey. The latter swells with rage
but can’t do anything: Cyprus is a member of the European Union.

The suspension of relations with Hungary was, most likely, the only
possible option. In fact, the Foreign Ministry has left no other choice
to the Armenian President. However, today they have to build a policy
of balanced steps and resist the temptation to acquire the psychology
of “besieged fortress”. All the besieged fortresses eventually fall,
or their defenders become so exhausted that the end of the siege
slightly differs from defeat.

Not disregarding our own interests we have to continue relations
with the European Union and NATO, denying slogans like “we don’t need
them, we can do without them”. We have to remember that it’s we who
want rapprochement with Brussels, not vice versa. We ask the EU to
organize a Donors Conference or provide funds for the modernization
of our border check points, etc.

Yes, we do have serious problems, but they are not unsolvable. We
simply need new, devoted and freely thinking people who can build
this policy of sober steps, not only in foreign but also in domestic
politics. The latter is the root of all our foreign political
complications.

SAFAROV CASE CAN FURTHER AGGRAVATE ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN RELATIONS -PACE CHIEF

ITAR-TASS
September 5, 2012 Wednesday 07:28 PM GMT+4
Russia

The international scandal involving the so-called “Safarov case”
may have “very negative consequences” for already-strained relations
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Jean-Claude Mignon, President of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said on
Wednesday, September 5.

“I join the international condemnation of the ‘glorification’ of the
terrible crime which Mr Safarov has committed, and for which he has
been condemned by a court in a Council of Europe member state,” he
said. “His liberation is unacceptable, and I am extremely disappointed
by the abusive use of a Council of Europe legal instrument in this
affair.”

“This scandalous liberation is having very negative consequences
on the already-strained relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
and also risks destabilising the situation in the region. I call on
the Azeri authorities to reconsider their position, in line with the
standards and the ethos of the Council of Europe,” Mignon concluded.

Safarov, an Azerbaijani army officer who had been serving a life
sentence in Hungary for the brutal 2004 murder of an Armenian officer
in Budapest, was transferred from Hungary to Azerbaijan on August
31 on the basis of an Azerbaijani request under the Convention of
Strasbourg on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of March 21, 1983,
to serve the rest of his sentence.

On August 31, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made the decision
to pardon Safarov.

Earlier this week, Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of
the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Stefan Fule,
European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, voiced
concern about the release of Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov,
who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder
of Armenian Army officer Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest in 2004.

“The High Representative and Commissioner Fule are concerned by
the news that the President of Azerbaijan has pardoned Azerbaijani
army officer Ramil Safarov, who was convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment for the murder of Armenian Army officer Gurgen Margaryan
in Budapest in 2004,” their spokespersons said.

“In the interest of regional stability and on-going efforts towards
reconciliation, the High Representative and Commissioner Fule
reiterate their call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint,
on the ground as well as in public statements, in order to prevent
an escalation of the situation,” they said.

NATO CHIEF CRITICIZES BAKU FOR AXE-KILLER’S PARDON

asbarez
Thursday, September 6th, 2012

President Sarkisian with NATO Secretary General Rassmusen in Yerevan
Thursday

Shirks NATO responsibility for Safarov’s extradition and subsequent
pardon.

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Visiting Armenia on Thursday, NATO Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen added his voice to Western criticism
of Azerbaijan’s decision to pardon the Azerbaijani army officer who
had axed to death an Armenian colleague during a NATO training course
in Budapest.

Rasmussen at the same time pointedly declined to criticize NATO
member Hungary for making that possible by extraditing Ramil Safarov
to Azerbaijan more than eight years after the brutal killing. He said
the extradition followed “international norms and standards.”

Rasmussen was in Yerevan on the first leg of his tour of the three
South Caucasus states that was overshadowed by the fallout from
Safarov’s controversial release from a Hungarian prison. He faced
hundreds of Armenians demonstrating in the capital to demand its
strong condemnation by NATO.

“I am deeply concerned by the Azerbaijani decision to pardon
army officer Safarov,” Rasmussen told RFE/RL’s Armenian service
(Azatutyun.am) in an interview. “This very tragic and terrible incident
happened eight years ago and it was a crime. Such a crime should not
be glorified, and the decision taken by Azerbaijan damages trust and
does not contribute to peace and reconciliation.”

“Having said that, it is also important that we do not return to
conflict,” he said. “On the contrary, it is crucial to work for a
reduction of tensions and promote peace and reconciliation.”

“I will raise [the issue] during my visit to Baku and I will convey
this very clear message to the Azerbaijani authorities,” added the
former Danish prime minister.

Rasmussen made a similar statement after his ensuing talks with
President Serzh Sarkisian that touched upon the Safarov affair and
its implications. Sarkisian reiterated Yerevan’s furious reaction
to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s decisions to pardon the
convicted axe-murderer and reward him with a higher military rank
and hefty material benefits immediately after his repatriation.

“Azerbaijan has turned itself into a sponsor of the crime with its
own hands,” Sarkisian told a joint news conference with the NATO chief.

“This is an unacceptable, inadmissible and condemnable phenomenon
that deals a big blow to the aims of the [NATO] Partnership for Peace
program and seriously jeopardizes regional security in the South
Caucasus. In this situation, nobody has the moral right to stay silent
and ignore what happened.”

Rasmussen was greeted by angry demonstrators

Sarkisian also again hit out at Hungary, with which his government
has suspended diplomatic relations. He said the Hungarian government
must have known in advance that Safarov, who was sentenced to life
imprisonment by a Hungarian court in 2006, will be set free on his
return home.

Official Budapest insists that the extradition was based on a European
convention to which both Azerbaijan and Hungary are signatories. It
says it had received formal assurances from Baku that Safarov will
serve the rest of his jail term in an Azerbaijani prison.

Rasmussen clearly backed the official Hungarian position when he
addressed students and professors at Yerevan State University (YSU)
earlier in the day. “I understand that the transfer of Mr. Safarov
from Hungary to Azerbaijan has taken place based on an agreement
that follows international norms and standards,” he said, answering
a question from one of the students.

Rasmussen also stressed that neither NATO nor Hungary should be held
responsible for the killing of Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Markarian
during an English-language course that was organized by NATO in
Budapest in 2004 for military officers from partner states.

“It was a crime committed by an individual, an Azerbaijani army
officer,” he said. He was brought to court in Hungary, he was sentenced
to many years in prison, and he was treated in Hungary according to
the basic principles of the rule of law.”

As Rasmussen spoke hundreds of mostly young people demonstrated outside
the sprawling YSU building in central Yerevan to express their anger
about Safarov’s release and demand its unequivocal condemnation
by NATO.

President Sarkisian, meanwhile, made clear that the bitter row with
Hungary “must not cast a shadow on our relations with NATO.” “Armenia
is ready and determined to maintain and develop the current level of
cooperation,” he said after the talks.

ARMENIA – US RELATIONS ON HIGHEST LEVEL – PRESIDENT

news.am
September 06, 2012 | 19:47

YEREVAN. – The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan received on Thursday
the U.S. Congressman Dan Burton.

The president has stated that relations between the United States
and Armenia are on the highest level since the diplomatic ties were
established between the two states 20 years ago, presidential press
service reports.

Sargsyan thanked for the U.S. constant support to Armenia and its
people.

“We witnessed another example of fair and impartial friendship when
the U.S. President, Department of State, the congressmen released
a rapid and proper response to the extradition and release of Azeri
murderer Ramil Safarov,” Sargsyan said.

The sides agreed that Armenia and the United States run firm
partnership ties both in bilateral and multi-lateral fields. Besides,
they stressed importance of deepening Armenian-U.S. economic ties
and increase of the U.S. investments in the Armenian economy.

The President also stressed that he values the U.S. involvement into
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

BEDROS HADJIAN DIES IN ARGENTINA

Obituary | September 6, 2012 9:40 am

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Bedros Hadjian, the last old-school Armenian
educator, writer and journalist of that community, died on Monday,
September 3, following complications due to heart surgery.

Born January 24, 1933, in Jarabulus, Syria, Hadjian became in 1954 the
principal of the Armenian school of Deir el Zor, in northern Syria,
one of the destination points of Armenians marched off by Ottoman
authorities during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

After teaching Armenian history and literature at the Haigazian
Armenian School of Aleppo from the mid-1960s, Hadjian in 1970 was
named principal of the Karen Jeppe High School, one of the biggest
Armenian secondary schools in Aleppo and one of the most prominent
in the Armenian Diaspora.

In 1970, Hadjian moved to Buenos Aires as the editor of Diario Armenia,
an Armenian-language daily newspaper that became a weekly in the late
1980s, as well as the principal of Instituto Educativo San Gregario
El Iluminador, one of many Armenian schools in South America.

He remained the editor of Diario Armenia until

1986 and retired as the headmaster of San Gregorio El Iluminador.

After 1986, he devoted himself to writing fiction and non-fiction
books, published in Buenos Aires, Aleppo and Yerevan.

He was a frequent contributor to Armenian newspapers, such as Haratch
in Paris, Nor Gyank in Los Angeles and Sardarabad in Buenos Aires on
Armenian and Armenian-Diasporan affairs, Armenian language as well as
literature and book reviews. The following are books he published:
Grandes Figuras de la Cultura Armenia, Siglos V- X (Great Figures
of the Armenian Culture, 5th-10th Centuries, Buenos Aires, 1987, in
Armenian and Spanish); Grandes Figuras de la Cultura Armenia, Siglos
XI-XVI (Great Figures of the Armenian Culture 11th to 16th Centuries,
Buenos Aires, 1989, in

Armenian and Spanish); Armenian Grammar 1, 2 and 3 (Buenos Aires,
1991, in Armenian); Hrammetsek Baronner Badmootyun (One Hundred
Years, One Hundred Stories, Buenos Aires, 2003, in Armenian; English
translation by Aris Sevag published in 2009); Gargemish (Aleppo,
2003, in Armenian) and El Cinturon (The Belt, Buenos Aires, 2005, in
Spanish); Cien Años, Cien Historias (Buenos Aires, 2008, in Spanish,
translated by Vartan Matiossian); Janabarh Tebi Garguemish’ (The Road
to Gargemish, Yerevan, 2008, in Armenian) and Haravë Spyurki Metch
(The South in the Diaspora, Aleppo, 2008, in Armenian).

Funeral services were held on Wednesday, September 5, at St. Gregory
Armenian Church, which he attended for more than 40 years. Internment
followed at the Armenian Cemetery of Buenos Aires.

TIME FOR COURAGEOUS STEP

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 14:37:46 – 05/09/2012

Member of Parliament Vartan Oskanian, PAP, stated today we need to
acknowledge that one of the reasons of our anger with Safarov’s
extradition and pardon is the inaction of our authorities. It
is unacceptable that the government of Armenia learnt about the
extradition only after the criminal was at home. It is unexplainable
and unacceptable that our government agencies did not know about the
deal between Azerbaijan and Hungary. Oskanian thinks the parliament
should ask the government to provide explanations.

According to Oskanian, Hungary’s step is disgusting both morally and
legally. In legal terms, this country violated the European convention
on extradition since it knew Safarov would never serve his sentence
in his country.

Meanwhile Azerbaijan showed its real face to the world.

We need to go forward. We need to do everything we can to rule out
other similar surprises. We need to be able to assess the current
situation. If we take the right steps, I think we may achieve
diplomatic success relating to the Artsakh issue. It is the right
moment to use and proceed with the international recognition of
Artsakh. It is time for united and courageous steps, said Oskanian.

HRANT MARGARYAN: “ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY DOESN’T SHOW ADEQUATE ACTIVENESS”

17:41 . 05/09

Touching upon the extradition of Ramil Safarov, pardoning him and
making a hero out of him in Azerbaijan, ARF-D Bureau member Hrant
Margaryan said on air of A1+:

“The Armenian foreign ministry with its embassies, consulates doesn’t
show adequate activeness, particularly if we compare it with the work
of Azerbaijan’s corresponding structures. I don’t wish to blame the
ambassadors, the consuls. Probably, they also have their share of fault
but I think the work is not being organized at all, no instructions
are being given. We aren’t as much represented in other countries
in political and diplomatic terms as Azerbaijan, our representation
is not sufficient. It’s true, Azerbaijan’s budget gives them wider
opportunities but it must not be in a ratio against everything and
nothing. The target of our embassies is often communities and not
the state”.

According to the ARF-D Bureau representative, Armenia has also to work
in the legal field, it is necessary to turn to the European Court,
as, though a transfer of a convict is not illegal, but a criminal
cannot but be punished.

VARDAN OSKANIAN CALL ON PARLIAMENT TO CALL ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT ON THE CARPET

arminfo
Wednesday, September 5, 19:29

First of all let’s have courage to accept that the other reason for
our disappointment and anger is also our government’s mistake
concerning Ramil Safarov’s extradition, deputy of the Armenian
parliament from the Prosperous Armenia Party, ex-foreign minister of
Armenia, Vardan Oskanian, said in the parliament today when
commenting on the bargain between Hungary and Azerbaijan on Safarov’s
extradition.

“I want to stress that Hungary’s decision to extradite Azerbaijani
officer, Ramil Safarov, was disgusting from both moral and legal
aspects. From a moral point of view, Hungary was to consult with the
Armenian side, let alone the centuries-old friendship between the two
countries, the existence of the Armenian community in Hungary,
Armenia’s contribution to the struggle for the liberation of Hungary,
etc”, – he said and added that the Armenian side has done a lot of
mistakes too.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Service have
stumbled in their work. There cannot be two opinions in this issue
either. The fact is that everybody was aware of the pending
extradition two weeks before Hungary made the decision. Both the
Armenian community in Hungary and Armenian NGOs had warned about the
possible extradition but to no avail. They all met complete
indifference in Armenia”, -Oskanian said.

He thinks that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s reaction at the
event was really rather resolute and courageous. However, such
resoluteness should be demonstrated several days before extraditionas
in that case Safarov would not be released and honored, he said.