AZAD SENT OPEN LETTER TO SECRETARY HILLARY CLINTON ON RAMIL SAFAROV CONTROVERSY
WASHINGTON, DC. September 2, 2012: The Azerbaijani Americans for
Democracy has addressed an open letter to the US Secretary of State
on the issue of the Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov. Below is the
full text of the letter:
Dear Madam Secretary,
On August 31, the US State Department issued a statement noting
that it was “extremely troubled by the news that the President of
Azerbaijan pardoned the Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov,” who
killed an Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan at a NATO sponsored event
in Budapest, Hungary, after the latter insulted the Azerbaijani flag. A
strongly worded statement from the US State Department expressed ~Sdeep
concern~T and underscored that the US is ~Sseeking an explanation~T
from Azerbaijan and ~Salso seeking further details from Hungary”
about the extradition of Safarov to Azerbaijan.
Ilham Aliyev’s government has committed countless transgressions
violating the rights of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani
citizens. Scores of people were physically attacked, arrested,
tortured, and some died at the hands of the Aliyev regime. Yet, the
strongest ever US State Department protest to the actions taken by
the dictatorship in Baku seem to be motivated not by the concerns for
rights and freedoms of the people of Azerbaijan, but rather by the
deference to the out-of-proportion influence of the Armenian lobby
on the US foreign policy.
It is difficult to understand the urgency and importance given by
the US State Department to the pardoning of the Azerbaijani soldier
Ramil Safarov.
Safarov’s extradition from Hungary could have been handled by
Azerbaijan with more consideration of diplomatic sensitivities
and without aggrandizing someone sentenced to life for killing an
Armenian officer. However, the practice of extraditing convicted
foreign citizens to their home countries where they receive lenient
terms or pardons is hardly extraordinary. One may recall the case of an
Armenian terrorist Varoujan Garabedian, convicted in France for bombing
Turkish Airlines check-in counter, subsequently freed and extradited
to Armenia. Garabedian was greeted as a national hero by the president
of Armenia and given the rank of an army colonel. The current Armenian
Minister of Defense, Seyran Ohanyan, had led a well-documented massacre
of Azeri civilians by Armenian forces in the town Khodjaly in 1992.
What is extraordinary and puzzling is that the arguably strongest-ever
criticism used by the US leadership against the Azerbaijani authorities
comes in response to the Ramil Safarov incident, rather than the
numerous grave trespasses on democracy and human rights perpetrated
by the Aliyev dictatorship against Azerbaijani citizens. It is
unfortunate that given the gross injustices perpetrated by the Aliyev
regime against its own people over the past two decades, the US State
Department appears to show greater concern for the sensitivities of
Armenia which currently occupies 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories,
having driven out all of its Azeri inhabitants.
It would be highly desirable to see equally strong reactions by
the US administration to fraudulent elections, violent attacks
against peaceful protesters, arrest, torture, beating and murder of
journalists, dissidents and civic activists in Azerbaijan. In many
of those instances, instead of expressions of “deep concern” and
“extreme trouble”, and demands of explanation from the Azerbaijani
government, as it was included in the US State Department~Rs and
National Security Council spokesperson~Rs statements on Safarov case,
the United States responded with much milder statements of concern
and “hopes for improvement”, effectively watering them down by the
assurances of cooperation and alliance with the ruling regime in Baku.
We cannot help but remember the ~Selection victory~T congratulations
delivered on behalf of the US government by the Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage to the Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev while
the streets of Baku were still reeling from violent suppression of
protests against the wholesale election fraud in October of 2003.
More recently, the nomination of Matthew Bryza to the position of
a US Ambassador to Azerbaijan and his failed Senate confirmation
process revealed a misplaced emphasis in the US approach towards the
Azerbaijani regime. Mr.
Bryza~Rs personal connections to the Azerbaijani regime were
questioned extensively in light of his perceived anti-Armenian bias
and pro-Azerbaijani position on the Karabakh conflict. Solely on those
grounds, two US senators effectively blocked his confirmation. His
credentials on democracy and human rights were never questioned by the
US government or members of the Congress. Ironically, Matthew Bryza~Rs
actions during and after his brief ambassadorship tenure – including
his high-profile job with an oil firm linked to Azerbaijan~Rs State
Oil Company, and his statements supportive of the Aliyev government
and lacking criticism of its human rights record – proved his bias
in favor of the regime in Baku on the issue of democracy, but not on
the Karabakh problem or on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
The corrupt dynastical Azerbaijani dictatorship led by Ilham Aliyev
can and should, indeed, be heavily criticized and pressured by the
US and other Western governments. However, the issue of democracy and
human rights, and not the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, is the most
appropriate subject where the strongest language and the heaviest
pressure should be applied.
The current short-sighted foreign policy focus might temporarily
appease the ethnic-Armenian lobby groups, but it certainly does not
serve the US national interests in Azerbaijan and the broader region,
harms the democratic development in that country, damages the US
reputation in the eyes of Azerbaijani people and further complicates
the resolution of the Karabakh problem.
Sincerely yours,
Elmar Chakhtakhtinski, Chairman Azerbaijani-Americans for Democracy