Author: Kanayan Tamar

KAREN HILLIARD SWORN IN AS MISSION DIRECTOR TO ARMENIA

The FINANCIAL

Sept 5 2012
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — Dr. Karen Hilliard was sworn in today as the
new Mission Director for Armenia for the United States Agency for
International Development. Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg
administered the oath of office.

As Director of the Mission, Dr. Hilliard will have the primary
responsibility for overseeing programs that aim to increase
development, strengthen democratic institutions, governance, and
civil society, and improve the quality of health and social services.

A 24-year veteran of the Foreign Service, Dr. Hilliard holds the rank
of Counselor. From January through June 2012, she served as Acting
USAID Representative to Mongolia and, from 2007-2011, as Mission
Director to Jamaica. She also served as Director of the Office of
Strategic Planning and Budgeting for the Agency’s Bureau for Global
Health in Washington from 2006-2007, and Deputy Regional Director
for Ukraine , Moldova and Belarus from 2003-2006. In addition, she
served at posts in Haiti, Malawi, Nicaragua, Oman and Egypt.

As USAID reported, prior to joining the Foreign Service, Dr. Hilliard
was Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Florida
State University. She has published numerous articles on public
administration and international development.

Dr. Hilliard holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois
University as well as Master’s degrees in Public Administration and
Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the
University of New Mexico. She is a former Fulbright Scholar.

FRANCE CONCERNED AS ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI TENSIONS RISE

Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
September 4, 2012 Tuesday

PARIS, Sept 4 (KUNA) — The French government expressed concern
over the impact of the official pardon of an Azeri national after he
murdered an Armenian officer eight years ago, a crime for which he
was convicted in 2006.

The Azeri authorities announced August 31 that they were releasing
the individual who was initially tried and convicted in Hungary before
being extradited to Azerbaijan.

Armenia has vociferously protested the pardon and said “it is ready
to go to war” over the case.

The latest tensions follow on months of serious incidents on the
Azerbaijan-Armenian border, with violent clashes leaving a number of
dead, mainly among the Armenian armed forces.

France and the other co-presidents of the Minsk Group, which also
includes Russia and the United States, have undertaken active diplomacy
to try to defuse the crisis and brought Foreign Ministers from both
countries to Paris in July.

“France, which is strongly committed in favour of a peaceful solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as are the other co-presidents of
the Minsk group, considers that this (pardon) decision risk gravely
damaging the negotiations and the establishment of a climate of
confidence between the two parties,” a statement said late Monday.

Armenia and Azerbaijan both claim the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and
clash regularly in this dispute and have once gone to all-out war
over the territory. (end) jk.hb KUNA 040915 Sep 12NNNN

YEREVAN RULES OUT ANKARA’S MEDIATION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

Interfax
Sept 4 2012
Russia

Turkey cannot act as a mediator in the Armenia-Azerbaijan talks over
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, Armenian Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian said.

“Any mediation or attempts to mediate by Turkey in this issue is ruled
out,” Nalbandian told a press conference held jointly with Argentine
Foreign Minister Hector Timerman in Yerevan on Tuesday.

In late August Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu expressed
Turkey’s wish to host talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Istanbul.

“What does this proposal mean? That the numerous meetings held over
Nagorno-Karabakh in various countries and more recently in a number
of Russian cities failed to lead to the expected result just because
they were not held in Istanbul?” Nalbandian said.

Turkish mediation or attempts to mediate issues concerning its
neighbors “have never produced a positive result, but rather the
opposite,” he said.

“It was stated on many occasions, including by our country, that
on this issue Turkey does not have a mediating role,” the Armenian
foreign minister said.

OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS MEET ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTERS

ITAR-TASS
September 3, 2012 Monday 10:18 PM GMT+4
Russia

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Robert Bradtke of
the United States of America, Igor Popov of the Russian Federation,
and Jacques Faure of France) and the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairperson-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, met on
September 2 with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian,
and on September 3 with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar
Mammadyarov, to address recent events in the region and efforts to
peacefully resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a press release
on Monday, September 3.

“The Co-Chairs discussed with the two Ministers the August 31 decision
of the Government of Azerbaijan to pardon Ramil 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.

They expressed their deep concern and regret for the damage the pardon
and any attempts to glorify the crime have done to the peace process
and trust between the sides,” the press release said.

The Co-Chairs reiterated to both Ministers that, as their Presidents
stated in Los Cabos on June 19, there is no alternative to a peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They will continue to
maintain contacts with the sides to reduce tensions and advance the
peace process.

PARIS SAYS SAFAROV PARDON “RISKS SERIOUSLY DAMAGING” NEGOTIATION EFFORTS

The French Embassy in the United Kingdom
Sept 3 2012

France expresses her concern following the announcement of the pardon
granted to Mr Safarov by the Azerbaijani authorities on Friday,
31 August. In Hungary in 2006 the Hungarian courts sentenced him to
life imprisonment for the unspeakable murder of an Armenian officer
in Budapest in 2004.

France, who, like the other co-chairs of the Minsk Group, is strongly
committed to a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
believes that this decision risks seriously damaging the negotiation
efforts and the establishment of a climate of trust between the
parties./.

OFFICIAL AZERI LETTER DEEMED GUARANTEE FOR MURDERER’S PUNISHMENT, SAYS MINISTRY

Politics.hu

Sept 5 2012
Hungary

Hungary’s Justice Ministry had not expected – based on previous
communication – that the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry would discontinue
the imprisonment of an Azeri murderer who was recently transferred by
Hungary back to his homeland, the ministry said on Monday, in response
to fierce criticism of the repatriation from opposition parties.

The ministry said in a statement that Azerbaijan had earlier informed
them that the life sentence handed down to Ramil Sahib Saharov would be
directly continued when he was returned to his homeland. Azerbaijan is
a full-fledged member of the UN Security Council, as well as a member
of the Council of Europe and other international organisations, so
an official letter from the country’s justice ministry was regarded
as a solid guarantee, the statement said.

It added that the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan stated that a person
serving a life sentence can be freed on probation after 25 years at
the earliest.

Safarov was convicted in Hungary in 2006 for murdering the Armenian
Gurgen Margaryan two years earlier. The two men attended a NATO
English-language course together. Safarov was sentenced to life
and sent to prison in Hungary but requested getting transferred to
Azerbaijan. On returning to Azerbaijan on Friday, Safarov got an
immediate pardon by his country’s president Ilham Aliyev. According
to press reports he was promoted to major, given a new flat and eight
years’ worth of back pay when he returned.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in Yerevan later in the day
that Armenia had decided to break diplomatic ties with Hungary in
light of the decision.

Earlier on Monday, the splinter party Democratic Coalition (DK)
said Prime Minister Viktor Orban was at fault because he failed to
demand a guarantee from Azerbaijan that the murderer would continue
to serve his life sentence after being repatriated.

Csaba Molnar, deputy head of DK, said Safarov had repeatedly requested
his transfer home during the previous governments but it was refused
because Azerbaijan did not guarantee that his sentence would not
be reduced.

Molnar accused Orban of purposely “leaving a door open” to enable
Safarov’s release from prison.

The small opposition LMP party has called on the government to make
public the minutes of talks between Prime Minister Viktor Orban and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, group leader Benedek
Javor said on Monday.

He said the party would make the same request to the Azerbaijani
president’s office.

According to LMP, Hungary’s government “sold to Azerbaijan a murderer
sentenced to life in Hungary basically in hope of financial support
from the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

“What’s more, they have made this immoral move in such an amateurish
way that it has now become uncertain whether it’s possible to
accomplish what they have originally hoped for,” Javor said.

Javor also queried the role played by the Hungarian secret services
in the case. They either had expected that Safarov would be pardoned,
but were ignored by the Hungarian government or they have proven
their unsuitability, he said.

The main opposition Socialists also said on Monday that Orban should
make it clear whether he had discussed the repatriation of Safarov
during his talks with the Azeri president and if any compensation
was offered by Azerbaijan.

Party leader Attila Mesterhazy said it had taken two days for Hungarian
diplomacy to protest against the freeing of Safarov and added that
this case has once against cast shame on the country.

The Socialists prepared a list of questions to be submitted to Orban,
including why he decided to change the previous Hungarian position
not to repatriate Safarov.

SAFAROV’S RELEASE AND KARABAKH RECOGNITION: HUNGARY’S EXTRADITION OF AZERI AXE-MURDERER CLEARS WAY FOR ARMENIA MOVE?
By Naira Hayrumyan

ArmeniaNow
05.09.12 | 10:44

Following last week’s controversial release in Hungary and subsequent
pardoning of Azerbaijan national Ramil Safarov, convicted in the
murder of Armenian Gurgen Margaryan, analysts and observers began to
assume that the development gives Armenia more freedom in recognizing
the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, something that it was cautious
to do before fearing Azerbaijan’s response with war.

Armenian lawmakers are gathering for an emergency session of parliament
today to discuss the Safarov extradition and its implications. The
National Assembly is expected to raise the issue of Karabakh’s
recognition as retaliation for Azerbaijan’s move, especially that the
Heritage faction again introduced a relevant legislation two days ago.

This bill was proposed for adoption several times during the past
years, but it was left out by the parliamentary majority every
time with the explanation that time was not ripe for that yet. This
is also what Armenia’s Foreign Ministry would say, noting that the
recognition of Karabakh by Armenia may become a reason for discontinued
negotiations and may trigger the resumption of hostilities.

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan visited Paris on September
2 to meet with the OSCE Minsk Group cochairmen. After the meeting,
the co-chairs said they would continue their contacts with the parties.

Nalbandyan himself also said that Armenia will continue its
participation in the negotiations. But it is obvious that Armenia
may propose a change of the subject of the talks.

If until now the main subject of the talks was the status of Karabakh,
then now Armenia may recognize Karabakh’s independent status and state
that it is ready only to hold negotiations on the clarification of
borders and guarantees of peace and stability.

Still last year the Armenian president said that “any adventure of
Azerbaijan, any action taken outside the OSCE Minsk Group would speed
up the recognition of NKR on our part.” He said that at the Armenian
Embassy in the United States during a reception organized by the
Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN and Armenian organizations of
the United States.

“We all should clearly understand: the fact that during so many years
Armenia has not recognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is due to the
fact that Armenia is trying to reach a result through negotiations. At
the same time, we must understand that any adventure by Azerbaijan,
any actions taken outside the OSCE Minsk Group framework will speed
up the recognition of NKR on our part,” he said.

Chairman of the Public Council of Armenia Vazgen Manukyan has also
spoken in favor of recognizing NKR and ceasing negotiations on its
status in the wake of the events involving the extradition of the
murderer to Azerbaijan. The same was stated by the leader of ARF
Dashnaktsutyun. In this view, it is not excluded that the September
5 statement by lawmakers will also refer to the intention to formally
recognize Nagorno Karabakh.

Apparently, there are countries that can support Armenia in this and
start the so-called “parade of recognition”. At the expert level some
say that Russia could become one such country. At the same time,
Western countries – the U.S. and the EU – also will not remain on
the sidelines either. But the first one may be Hungary. The office of
the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan issued a statement
yesterday in which it said that the most fitting response from the
Hungarians to Azerbaijan may be the recognition of NKR.

And the OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by Russia, the U.S. and France, may
be the best guarantee that Armenia’s recognition of NKR’s independence
does not cause a regional turmoil. Instruments of mutual containment
within this format may indeed prove crucial to maintaining peace and
stability in the region.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIATORS REBUKE AZERBAIJAN OVER PARDON

New York Times
Sept 3 2012

MOSCOW (Reuters) – International mediators from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Monday that Azerbaijan’s
decision to pardon an Azeri soldier who killed an Armenian officer
had damaged the peace process in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since a war between ethnic
Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the mainly Armenian
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but
cross-border clashes this year have prompted worries of a resumption
of fighting.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, last week pardoned Ramil
Safarov, who had been sentenced to life in prison in Hungary for the
2004 killing of an Armenian officer during NATO training but was sent
back to Azerbaijan.

Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary, calling Hungary’s
decision to send Mr. Safarov back to Azerbaijan “a grave mistake.”

Mr. Safarov was given a hero’s welcome in Azerbaijan, where thousands
of people took to the streets to greet him in his native city,
Sumgait. The government promoted him to the rank of major and paid
his salary for the eight years he was in custody.

The international mediators, including representatives of the United
States, Russia and France, met with the foreign ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan after the pardon threatened to inflame tensions.

The mediators “expressed their deep concern and regret for the damage
the pardon and any attempts to glorify the crime have done to the peace
process and trust between the sides,” the group said in a statement.

Azerbaijan said its president had acted in line with the law and
dismissed criticism from Europe, Russia and the United States, as
well as Armenia’s reaction.

“The hysterical approach of the Armenian leadership was targeted at
the local population and was meant to be a populist political show,”
said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Elman Abdullayev.

A White House statement on Friday said that President Obama was “deeply
concerned” by the pardon, and that the action was “contrary to ongoing
efforts to reduce regional tensions and promote reconciliation.”

AZERBAIJANI EXTRADITION – FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS AZERBAIJAN’S ACTION UNACCEPTABLE

Ministry of Foreign Affair
Sept 3 2012
Hungary

Hungary’s Foreign Ministry told the ambassador of Azerbaijan in
Budapest on Sunday that the actions that followed the transferral home
of life-sentenced Azerbaijani Ramil Sahib Safarov are unacceptable to
Hungary, the foreign affairs state secretary at the prime minister’s
office told Hunagrian News Agency MTI.

Peter Szijjarto reiterated that Hungary had acted in compliance with
the European Council’s convention on the transfer of sentenced persons.

The legal representative of Safarov, convicted for murdering Armenian
fellow-soldier Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in 2004, has requested
from Hungary’s justice ministry that he should be allowed to serve
the remaining part of his prison sentence in his home country,
Szijjarto said. After the Hungarian Justice Ministry had contacted
the Azerbaijani authorities, they informed the ministry that the crime
that Safarov was convicted for would also qualify as a criminal act in
Azerbaijan and the punishment could be a life sentence. The authorities
also informed the ministry that Safarov would continue to serve his
sentence in Azerbaijan if he is transferred home, Szijjarto said.

Since Azerbaijan has failed to act in line with the official document
sent to Hungary, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry told the ambassador
of Azerbaijan that this course of action had been unacceptable for
Hungary.

On returning to Azerbaijan on Friday, Safarov requested and got a
pardon from his country’s president. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
said in Yerevan later in the day that Armenia had decided to break
diplomatic ties with Hungary.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description:

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
From: Katia Peltekian
Subject: Budapest: Azerbaijani extradition – Foreign Ministry says
Azerbaijan’s action unacceptable

Ministry of Foreign Affair, Hungary
Sept 3 2012

Azerbaijani extradition – Foreign ministry says Azerbaijan’s action unacceptable

September 3, 2012 9:27 AM
.

Hungary’s Foreign Ministry told the ambassador of Azerbaijan in
Budapest on Sunday that the actions that followed the transferral home
of life-sentenced Azerbaijani Ramil Sahib Safarov are unacceptable to
Hungary, the foreign affairs state secretary at the prime minister’s
office told Hunagrian News Agency MTI.

Peter Szijjarto reiterated that Hungary had acted in compliance with
the European Council’s convention on the transfer of sentenced
persons.
The legal representative of Safarov, convicted for murdering Armenian
fellow-soldier Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in 2004, has requested
from Hungary’s justice ministry that he should be allowed to serve the
remaining part of his prison sentence in his home country, Szijjarto
said. After the Hungarian Justice Ministry had contacted the
Azerbaijani authorities, they informed the ministry that the crime
that Safarov was convicted for would also qualify as a criminal act in
Azerbaijan and the punishment could be a life sentence. The
authorities also informed the ministry that Safarov would continue to
serve his sentence in Azerbaijan if he is transferred home, Szijjarto
said.

Since Azerbaijan has failed to act in line with the official document
sent to Hungary, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry told the ambassador of
Azerbaijan that this course of action had been unacceptable for
Hungary.

On returning to Azerbaijan on Friday, Safarov requested and got a
pardon from his country’s president. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
said in Yerevan later in the day that Armenia had decided to break
diplomatic ties with Hungary.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

A POSSIBLE CHRONOLOGY OF THE AZERI-HUNGARIAN NEGOTIATIONS

hungarianspectrum.wordpress.com
September 2, 2012

By now we can more or less piece together the chronology of the
Azeri-Hungarian negotiations about the transfer of Lieutenant Ramil
Safarov of Azerbaijan from a Hungarian jail where he was serving a life
sentence for the murder of an Armenian officer to Baku on August 31.

Azeri politicians keep emphasizing that the initiative for Safarov’s
release came from Azerbaijan. They had never given up the idea of
this national hero’s return to the homeland. This is also confirmed
by Ferenc Gyurcsány, prime minister when Safarov was sentenced,
who said that Azeri pressure on the Hungarian government was
considerable. Gyurcsány claims, however, that the politicians serving
in the prime minister’s office at the time came to the conclusion that
the likelihood of the Azeri authorities letting Safarov loose once
he arrived on Azeri soil was high. Therefore, as Azeri politicians
repeatedly said in the last few days, the “Hungarians were stubborn
and refused to negotiate.”

But as soon as Fidesz won the elections the negative Hungarian
attitude to the Azeri request changed. Azeri politicians talk about
negotiations lasting over a year that eventually ended in Safarov’s
release. In 2010 Viktor Orbán visited Baku for a conference, but it
is unlikely that the topic was discussed seriously then. Sometime in
2011, however, the Hungarians became willing to oblige.

It was in mid-November 2011 that Pál Schmitt spent time in Baku where
the topic was definitely discussed. We know that from an interview
with Zahid Oruj, a member of the Azeri parliamentary committee for
defense and security, who claimed that “Azerbaijan during Safarov’s
stay in prison was twice able to negotiate with the Hungarian side to
release him. However, the first time this arrangement was disrupted by
the resignation of the President of Hungary.” I can deduce from this
statement that Viktor Orbán sent Schmitt to Baku to begin tentative
negotiations for a deal with the Azeri government in exchange for
Safarov’s transfer to Azerbaijan. Shortly after Schmitt’s trip, in
early January 2012, Schmitt’s plagiarism case was discovered and the
negotiations came to a screeching halt.

Once the Schmitt affair was over in April, the Hungarian government
must have indicated to the Azeris that Hungary was ready to resume
conversations on the topic. Moreover, the offer must have been couched
in language that offered hope for Azeri success because on May 29
Péter Szijjártó, in those days still the personal spokesman for the
prime minister, announced that Viktor Orbán had accepted the Azeri
president’s personal invitation to visit Baku. Although Orbán didn’t
make the trip to Azerbaijan until the end of June, on June 8 a letter
was dispatched from the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration
asking the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan to state
what steps they would take in case Hungary releases Safarov. In this
letter the Hungarians wanted to have assurances from Azerbaijan that
the Azeri government would honor the stipulations of the Strasbourg
Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of 1983.

The Azeri Ministry of Justice took its sweet time answering this
letter. It was only on August 15 that the following letter, written
in rather fractured English, was sent to Tibor Navracsics’s ministry:

The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan presents its
compliments to the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of
Hungary and has the honor to inform the following.

As a response to your inquiry about Ramil Sahib Safarov, who is serving
his sentence in Hungary, we inform you that the execution of the courts
decisions of the foreign states regarding the transfer of sentenced
persons to serve the remaining part of their prison sentences in the
Republic of Azerbaijan is carried out in accordance with Article 9
paragraph 1 point a) of the European Convention without any conversion
and without having to go through any new judicial procedure.

Please be also informed that in accordance with Article 57.3 of
the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan the punishment of
a convict who is serving a life sentence could only be replaced
by court with an imprisonment for a certain period or he could be
released on conditional parole, only after he has served at least
twenty-five years of his sentence.

It is difficult to understand what prompted the long delay between
the Hungarian inquiry of June 8 and the Azeri answer of August 15.

Perhaps some details had to be ironed out. Péter Szijjártó’s
visit to Baku on July 23 might have been part of this process. It is
also possible that what the Azeris wanted to know was whether the
assurance that was eventually sent on August 15 would satisfy the
Hungarians. Given what followed next, the answer had to be positive.

On the basis of my reading of the reports from Azerbaijan, Armenia,
and Hungary I am coming to the conclusion that János Martonyi’s
foreign ministry was left out of the loop completely. That’s why
the ministry was so sluggish responding to Safarov’s pardon by
the Azeri president. When reporters asked its spokesman about the
ministry’s reaction, the answer was that “they are still studying the
matter.” Well, if they had been involved in the negotiations all along,
they wouldn’t have needed to study the details after the fact.

It was only this afternoon that Zsolt Németh, undersecretary of the
Hungarian foreign ministry, handed a memorandum to Vilayat Guliyev,
Azeri ambassador in Budapest, to the effect that “Hungary finds the
Azeri procedure in the extradition of Safarov unacceptable.”

Some Hungarian commentators think that since it was the ministry
of administration and justice, together with Péter Szijjártó,
who were involved in the negotiations it was a lack of diplomatic
experience that caused the “misunderstanding.” I don’t believe this
for a moment. It’s hard to picture Viktor Orbán as a babe in arms or
“an aging teenager,” as Gáspár Miklós Tamás called him, who is so
naive that he cannot read a legal document or who is totally unaware
of the very precarious political and military situation in the region.

I think Orbán knew what he was doing. He desperately wants to avoid
a loan from the IMF because that would limit his freedom of action.

He tried to get China and later Saudi Arabia to purchase Hungarian
government bonds, but he failed. Just this year Hungary will have to
pay back 4.7 billion euros worth of loans. Azerbaijan promised to buy
2-3 billion euros worth of Hungarian government bonds. He was ready
to strike a bargain. It seems even with the devil.

This time the churches raised their voices. Cardinal Péter ErdŒ,
head of the Hungarian Catholic Church, expressed the solidarity of
the Hungarian Conference of Bishops with the Armenian Christians
and the Armenian people. The Calvinists and the Lutherans went even
further, stating that “the church leaders don’t doubt the legality
of the steps taken by the Hungarian authorities but they condemn
their consequences.”

DK organized a small demonstration of diehards in front of the
parliament building. I assume the demonstration that the Facebook
group, Hey Armenia, Sorry about our Prime Minister, is planning for
Tuesday will be more robust. Meanwhile the number of supporters of the
initative is well over 8,000. Hungarians seem to be really disgusted
with the Orbán government’s policies at home and abroad. One day
the whole thing will boil over. I’m almost sure