Author: Baghdasarian Karlen

SECURITY OF AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY IN BUDAPEST TIGHTENED

Mon 03 September

The Hungarian side has tightened the security of the Azerbaijani
embassy in Budapest over possible demarches of the Azerbaijani diaspora
due to extradition of Azerbaijani officer R.Safarov to Baku and his
further pardoning at home.

“The attention to the embassy has intensified, they feel possibility
of some excesses. I believe that are no great problems, everything
is under control”, Azerbaijani ambassador to Hungary Vilayat Guliyev
told ANS television company.

According to the diplomat, the note of protest over pardoning Safarov
by the head of the Azerbaijani state presented by the Hungarian
Foreign Ministry to Azerbaijan is not something extraordinary and
this fact should be accepted calmly.

In general, the story with Safarov can be viewed close, Guliyev said,
despite the resentment of the Armenian side over the extradition
and release of the Azerbaijani officer. “I think that this issue is
already closed. Let Armenians say, write and shout as much as they
want”, Guliyev said. “This page is closed and we are getting back to
everyday routine”.

From: Baghdasarian

HUNGARY AND AZERBAIJAN: UNORTHODOX BAIL OUTS
By Shant Krikorian

hetq
10:19, September 3, 2012

There is no doubt that the recent demise of the Hungarian justice
system has come at the helm of Azeri interest in the Hungarian
bond market.

Only about two weeks ago did the Hungarian State Debt Management Agency
announce its auctioning of treasury bonds in an effort to ease pressure
from the IMF and EU directives.According to portfolio.hu and Hungarian
business and news weekly FigyelÅ’, Azerbaijan is currently looking
to buy Hungarian government bonds at two and three year maturity,
estimated at 3billion Euros.

While Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s tenure in office
has already been marred by controversy, stop.hu reports that the
Safarov’s extradition to Azerbaijan was finally agreed upon during
the prime minister’s last visit to Baku, where the case was tied
with Azerbaijan’s bond-purchase offer along with future cooperation
in the energy sector.

It still remains unclear what Turkey’s possible role in Safarov’s
extradition was, as some Hungarian and Armenian news outlets claimed
that Turkey helped facilitate the talks between Hungary and Azerbaijan,
and Turkey, itself has expressed strong interest in cooperating with
Hungarian refinancing measures.

Hungarian opposition parties, including former 2010 presidential
candidate Attila Mesterházy of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP)
was quick to condemn Orbán’s actions as damaging to Hungarian and
European-Democratic interests, stating that “the decision has brought
shame to Hungary”.

As of Sunday, the Hungarian Socialist Party has initiated requests
for emergency meetings on subjects of constitutional, foreign, and
national security affairs for formulating a coherent investigation
and follow-up to the Safarov case.

From: Baghdasarian

AYF: HUNGARY DISREGARDED MORALITY IN EXCHANGE FOR AZERI PETRODOLLARS

PanARMENIAN.Net
September 3, 2012 – 15:49 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – The Armenian Youth Federation will protest against
the extradition and pardoning of an Azerbaijani soldier responsible
for brutally murdering an Armenian military officer 8 years ago during
NATO military exercises in Hungary.

The protest will take place on Thursday, September 6, at 3pm at the
Azerbaijani and Hungarian Consulates in Los Angeles, California.

“The Armenian Youth Federation, Western Region expresses its outrage
with the immoral and irresponsible decision of the Hungarian Government
to extradite a cold-blooded murderer, Ramil Safarov, responsible for
the axing of an Armenian Army lieutenant, Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest
on February 19, 2004. We strongly condemn the hate-driven actions of
the Azeri Government, which not only pardoned this criminal but also
gave him a hero’s welcome.

In 2006, the Hungarian court found Safarov guilty of murdering Lt.

Margaryan and sentenced him to life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole. His immediate release, justified by the
Hungarian Government by references to the 1983 Strasbourg Convention
on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, has allowed the murderer to
escape just punishment and instead be treated as a national hero
in Azerbaijan.

Officials in Budapest could not have been unaware of the fact that
the above mentioned Convention contains a clause which allows the
receiving country to issue pardons to transferred prisoners. Given
the circumstances, it becomes obvious that the Hungarian Government
has chosen to disregard morality and justice in exchange for Azeri
petrodollars and the friendly disposition of the corrupt regime
in Baku.

This decision is even more deplorable due to the fact that despite
the assurances from Azerbaijan that Safarov’s sentence would not be
commuted, the brutal criminal was immediately pardoned by President
Ilham Aliyev and was greeted as a national hero upon his return to
Baku. Once again, we witnessed the lionization of those who preach
hatred towards Armenians by the Azeri society, which is consistent
with the antagonistic and xenophobic policies of the Government
of Azerbaijan.

We condemn these actions of both the Government of Hungary and the
corrupt regime in Baku. We demand an apology from the Hungarian
Government and ask for the rescission of their immoral decision on
extradition. From the Azeri Government, we demand a reversal of the
pardon and an immediate imprisonment of Ramil Safarov. We call upon
the Armenian community of Southern California to join us in expressing
our anger and demanding justice by participating in a protest in front
of the Azeri and Hungarian Consulates in Los Angeles,” AYF said in
a statement.

From: Baghdasarian

ARMENIAN MP: SAFAROV’S VIOLENCE MATCHED ONLY BY CHILLING LACK OF REMORSE

tert.am
03.09.12

A lawmaker of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun
(ARF-D) and a vice president of the Euranest parliamentary assembly,
Vahan Hovhannesyan , has sent a letter to Hungarian members of the
European Parliament, expressing concerns over Hungary’s decision to
extrude the convicted Azerbaijani lieutenant, Ramil Safarov.

His full letter is below:

I am writing this letter with regret, because I feel that the spirit
of the longstanding friendship between the Armenian and Hungarian
peoples is almost completely shattered by the event that took place
recently. As you undoubtedly understand, I mean the extradition of
Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan, a Lieutenant in the Azerbaijani army,
who was serving a life sentence in your country for the premeditated
murder of the Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in 2004 during
a NATO “Partnership for Peace” program in Budapest.

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 innocent
victim’s head – is matched only by his chilling lack of remorse or
repentance for his crime.

During the last eight years Azerbaijani government officials,
political leaders, prominent public figures more than once expressed
their admiration by that heinous act. So, nobody in Hungary: neither
the court, nor the authorities could doubt that if Safarov returned
to Baku, he would, certainly, be welcomed, and his act of cowardly
murder declared a victory and a source of national pride for the
generations to come.

And that’s exactly what happened after your country decided to send
Safarov to Baku, i.e. set him free.

I am not going to dwell now on the judicial side of Safarov’s
extradition, which, in addition to representing a serious breach of
justice in a clear case of homicide, will 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 Mountainous Karabakh.

The consequence of the actions of the Hungarian authorities was not
only predictable; it was obvious, so they bear full responsibility
for the fact that the murderer did not serve even ten years out of
a life sentence; and for whatever excesses the militarist leadership
of Azerbaijan will carry out as a result of the euphoria because of
this release.

Regretfully, the negative impact of this incident will also cast a
shadow on the standards and principles we tried to implement together
in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and Eastern Partnership policy.

The damage done to the concept of common values we share with our
European Partners is so devastating that I do not expect any late
reaction can improve the moral disappointment and frustration caused
by that.

But at least now, after the mean murderer is declared a national hero
in Azerbaijan, the society in Hungary and other European countries
must fully realize the reason why the Armenians in the Mountainous
Karabakh will never agree to be under Azerbaijani rule.

Sincerely,

Vahan Hovhannesyan Member of the Euronest PA Bureau Vice-President
of the Euronest PA

From: Baghdasarian

CHURCHES IN HUNGARY EXPRESS REGRETS AND SOLIDARITY WITH THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE

ARMRADIO.AM
03.09.2012 17:29

Bishop Peter Gancs, Presiding Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Hungary
and Bishop Gusztav Bolcskei Ministerial President of the Synod of the
Reformed Church in Hungary, sent a letter to His Holiness Karekin II,
Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, expressing their
regrets and solidarity with the Armenian people to His Holiness for
the recent actions by the government of Azerbaijan.

The letter reads:

“On behalf of the Protestant communities in Hungary, please accept
our sincere sympathy on the unacceptable amnesty given to the Azeri
criminal who was extradited from Hungary to his homeland Azerbaijan.

While we cannot question that the Hungarian authorities acted in
accordance with the applicable international law, we regret that
the extradition resulted in the intolerable amnesty granted to the
convict by the President of Azerbaijan.

We believe that it is God only who rightly judges all of us and
that it is before Him that we all have to stand one day. However,
authority and responsibility to serve and protect the society as a
whole has been granted to the state, thus, to let criminals to enjoy
freedom is against the order of God.

We fully understand the anger of Armenian people over this
reprehensible act of amnesty, and express our solidarity on behalf
of our people. We pray that justice will be done and peace and
understanding will abide between our nations.”

From: Baghdasarian

KOBAYR MONASTERY: NESTLED ON THE CLIFFS OVERLOOKING THE DEBED RIVER
Sona Avagyan

September 3, 2012

Rising along the terraced slopes of the Debed River near the village
of Kobayr in Lori Marz is the 12th century Kobayr Monastery.

It’s nestled amongst the trees and mountain springs, literally built on
the cliff walls. The complex lies just north of the town of Tumanyan.

Perched on a shelf of the gorge, in an ancient and sacred place
where springs seep out of the rock, trees and vines twine among the
intricately carved blocks of the monastery.

Kobayr, with its bell tower and three churches, has undergone
restoration. Deputy Culture Minister Arev Samuelyan told Hetq that
the work, at a cost of some 15 million AMD, was carried out in 2011
and this year on the bell tower section and burial structure alone.

Work on the bell tower and cemetery is due for completion by 2014.

The monastery was built on a shelf of a gorge by the Princess Mariam
of the junior Bagratuni branch, the Kyurikids in 1171. (Armenian
Kingdom formed during the breakup of Bagratuni Armenia).

The bell-tower/mausoleum in the middle of the complex was built in
1279 to house the tombs of Mkhargryel and his wife Vaneni. There is
a little sacred spring flowing within.

By the middle of the 13th century, Kobayr had passed from the Kyurikids
to Zakharids, turning from a monotheistic centre into a Chalcedonian
one (confessed by Georgians). The monastery reverted to the Armenian
Apostolic Church in the 15-16th centuries, as did all Chalecedonian
monasteries, when Georgia was carved up into several statelets and
Byzantium was overrun by the Turks.

Georgians claim Kobayr as their own. Restoration workers told
architecture specialist Samvel Karapetyan that Georgia ambassador to
Armenia had visited the site and made the same claim.

Karapetyan points to a work by ethnographer Yervand Lalayan (19-20th
century) stating that Kobayr is a Georgian structure. He says the
Georgians readily use this to back up their claims.

Toppled walls of the monastery.

Many of the stones are intricately carved with inscriptions.

Gravestones.

This open space, resembling a balcony, is actually a burial site.

Visitors to Kobayr, like many other historical monuments in Armenia,
have defaced the walls.

A nearby cave in the cliff walls.

A panorama of the town of Tumanyan and the Debed River.

Samuel Karapetyan visited the site in 1981. A large section of the
cliff had tumbled into the center of the main church. We can’t say
for certain when this occurred.

Samvel Karapetyan

Work to preserve the crumbling monastery began in the 1950s and
recommenced in 2005.

Karapetyan says the current restoration work is of good quality. Most
of the restorers hail from the nearby town of Tumanyan.

Overall, Deputy Minister Samuelyan says the Armenian government
has spent 130 million AMD to stabilize the structure, preserve the
interior frescoes, repair the road to the site, etc.

On the narrow path leading down to the village of Kobayr and the
little train station.

According to the 2001 census, the village had 45 residents.

From: Baghdasarian

RUSSIAN MFA: ACTIONS OF AZERBAIJANI AND HUNGARIAN AUTHORITIES CONTRADICT INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS

armradio.am
03.09.2012 16:24

“Russia, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, was deeply concerned
by the news about the release of Ramil Safarov, who was convicted and
sentenced for life imprisonment for the brutal murder of an Armenian
army officer in Hungary in 2004, also as the decision of the Hungarian
authorities to extradite him to Azerbaijan,” official representative of
the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Alexander Lukashevich declared.

“We consider that these actions of the Azerbaijani and Hungarian
authorities contradict the efforts on the international level,
particularly those of the OSCE Minsk Group, targeted at alleviating
the tension in the region,” he added.

“We expect the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to give a relevant
assessment to the situation in the nearest future,” Lukashevich
concluded.

From: Baghdasarian

Hurriyet, Turkey
Sept 3 2012

Baku’s presidential pardon adds to Caucasus tensions

YEREVAN / BAKU

Tense relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia are to further
deteriorate after Hungarian government sends a soldier who murdered an
Armenian back to Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned and promoted

Tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia has reached new heights after
the Hungarian government sent a soldier who murdered an Armenian back
to his native Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned.

Hundreds of people have since taken part in protests outside the
Hungarian consulate in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Angry
demonstrators burned the Hungarian flag on Sept. 1 and threw eggs,
tomatoes and coins, accusing Budapest of doing a deal with Baku in
order to profit from Azerbaijan’s energy riches.

Yerevan cut diplomatic ties with Hungary on Aug. 31. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan said Hungary had made a `grave mistake’ in
extraditing the killer, who hacked his victim to death with an axe in
Budapest in 2004. Armenia also vowed to protest the presidential
pardon in a letter to the states that co-chair the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group. U.S. President
Barack Obama said he was `deeply concerned’ about the pardon.

Azerbaijani lieutenant Ramil Safarov was jailed for life after hacking
Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian to death at a military academy in
Budapest, where the servicemen were attending English-language courses
organized by NATO. Safarov claimed that Markarian had insulted
Azerbaijan. The two fought a bitter war over the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s, and tension between them has been high
ever since.

The conflict left some 30,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of
thousands. The two sides have not signed a final peace deal since the
1994 cease-fire, and there are still regular firefights along the
Karabakh frontline. Hungary insists that Azerbaijan promised that the
soldier would serve out the remainder of his sentence after his return
home and would not be freed.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers were scheduled to meet
yesterday with the OSCE co-chairs in Paris, where the issue is likely
to be on the agenda. It was also expected to come up during the visit
of NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the region this
week.

Promotion to major

In another move that infuriated Armenia, Azerbaijan has reinstated
Safarov to the army and promoted him to the rank of major. `Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev received him, handed him his new rank and wished
him success in his future military service,’ a Defense Ministry
statement said. The Ministry also awarded Safarov over eight years’
worth of salary for the time he spent in a Hungarian prison, and
gifted him with an apartment. Armenian Justice Minister Hrayr
Tovmasyan wrote a letter to his Hungarian counterpart to express his
indignation at the extradition.

`I am certain that you should have known what would happen with
Safarov in Azerbaijan. You should have known that you were
transferring a person who had committed a murder based on the motive
of racial hostility, to a country where he is considered a hero. You
must have known that this would be a slap, first of all to the justice
of Hungary, and generally to the whole European value system,’ wrote
Tovmasyan, according to News.am website. `I would have resigned in
your place as a minister,’ wrote Tovmasyan.

Message from Diaspora Ministry

Armenia’s Diaspora Ministry also called upon the Armenians all over
the world to commence demonstrations in connection with the
extradition. Commenting on Safarov’s extradition, Azerbaijani lawmaker
Ganira Pashayeva said: `this is a great event not only for
Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan, but also for the whole Turkish
people living both inside and outside Azerbaijan,’ according to
News.az website. Another Azerbaijani lawmaker, Zahid Oruj, who was
directly involved in securing Safarov’s extradition, also defended the
decision. `Safarov’s action was not an ordinary criminal case. It was
an adequate action against an Armenian who trampled the Azerbaijani
flag before the eyes of a man who has lost his land, and whose
relatives and friends were killed in front of his eyes,’ Oruj said.
`Safarov became a kind of symbol. His release will raise the moral and
psychological mood of the society.’
Azerbaijan also hit back at U.S. criticism, insisting that the pardon,
awarded to Safarov after he had served eight years of his sentence,
conformed to a European legal convention on extradition.

September/03/2012

From: Baghdasarian

Eurasia Review
Sept 2 2012

Armenia, Hungary In Diplomatic Fallout – OpEd

September 2, 2012
By Natalya Kovalenko

Armenia has severed diplomatic ties with Hungary after that country
released the killer of an Armenian military officer. Street protests
have erupted in Yerevan. Armenia’s armed forces are on heightened
alert.

In 2004, the Armenian officer, Gurgen Markaryan, was axed to death by
an Azeri colleague, Ramil Safarov, as both were attending NATO English
language courses in Budapest. In 2006, a Hungarian court sentenced the
killer to life imprisonment without a possibility of parole. This
Friday, however, Hungary turned him over to Azerbaijan, where he was
immediately granted a presidential pardon.

Armenia

Dr Azhdar Kurtov is a leading expert at the Russian Institute of
Strategic Studies:

`Being an oil power, Azerbaijan is immensely richer than Armenia. It
successfully uses its oil wealth as a foreign policy instrument.
Hungary, whose economy is often likened to that of Greece, badly needs
financial assistance, and it may be looking to Azerbaijan for rescue
funds.’

Dr Yana Amelina heads the Caucasus sector of the same Institute:

`Severing diplomatic ties is a natural reaction to a development of
this kind. At the same time, it has drawn attention to the
international weakness of Armenia. Yerevan has failed to keep
Safarov’s case in focus, which allowed Hungary to quietly release the
convict.

Many people in Azerbaijan, including senior officials, regard Safarov
as a national hero. His return boosts the country’s morale and
bolsters its international standing. It also weakens the position of
Armenia. Hungary’s decision to release him may also add fuel to the
Azeri-Armenian conflict over Nagorny Karabakh.’

Russian political analyst Dr Vladimir Bruter sees a silver lining for Armenia:

`The Armenian lobby in Western countries can help Armenia gain moral
high ground in the Safarov story and persuade Western governments that
Azerbaijan is not trustworthy. Indeed, the US Department of State has
already criticized Azerbaijan for failing to deliver on its promise to
keep Safarov behind bars, in accordance with the sentence handed down
to him in Hungary.’

From: Baghdasarian

Interfax, Russia
Sept 1 2012

Hungary insists it extradited Azeri convict lawfully

BAKU. Sept 1

Hungary transferred Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced by
a Budapest court to life for killing an Armenian serviceman in 2006,
to Baku in line with the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of
Sentenced Persons, the Hungarian Justice Ministry said in an official
statement.

“Both Azerbaijan and Hungary are parties to the Convention, which was
promulgated by Act No. of 1994 by the Hungarian Parliament. Under the
Convention, a person sentenced in the territory of a Party may be
transferred to the territory of another Party, in accordance with the
provisions of the Convention, in order to serve the sentence imposed
on him. To that end, such a person may express his interest to the
sentencing State or to the administering State in being transferred
under the Convention,” the ministry said in a statement, an
English-language version of which is available on its website.

“The competent authorities of the administering State shall continue
the enforcement of the sentence or convert the sentence, through a
judicial or administrative procedure, into a decision of that State,”
it said.

Safarov’s transfer to Azerbaijan fully complied with the Convention, it said.

Hungary transferred 11 convicts in 2010, 7 in 2011, and 8 in 2012
under the Convention, the ministry said.

It was reported earlier that Hungary had extradited Safarov to
Azerbaijan on Friday. The same day, the president of Azerbaijan
granted him parole.

Safarov was earlier found guilty of killing Armenian officer Gurgen
Markarian for defiling the Azeri national flag while both officers
were taking an English-language course under the NATO auspices in
Budapest in 2004. A Budapest court sentenced Safarov to life without
the right to parole during the first 30 years of his conviction on
April 13, 2006.

va

From: Baghdasarian