Author: nina hovnanian

FORMER HUNGARIAN PM EXPRESSES REGRET FOR THE MEAN AND INADMISSIBLE STEP OF THE HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT TOWARDS ARMENIA

19:22 . 04/09

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, who is mainly responsible for Ramil
Safarov’s extradition, finally made a statement connected with the
fact. He said that Hungary complied with the norms of international
law regarding Ramil Safarov’s transfer to Azerbaijan. Asked if
there were secret talks between Azerbaijan and Hungary, which led
to the decision of Safarov’s extradition, Orban answered Hungary is
a democratic country and the rules of international law are shaped
openly and not on the basis of secret agreements.

Former Hungarian PM Ferenc Gyurcsan also made a statement, who
didn’t justify the authorities but condemned them. In his page on
Facebook Gyurcsan addressed a letter to RA President Serzh Sargsyan
and expressed his regret that Hungary’s decision may damage both the
Armenian-Hungarian and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The letter
reads: “The Hungarian authorities took an inadmissible, mean decision
which increases tension in the region. I inform that the Azerbaijani
government also numerously asked to extradite the criminal while I
was prime minister. Because of absence of guarantees that Safarov
wouldn’t be released, my government refused the request”.

To recall, earlier Gyurcsan accused the incumbent Hungarian president
who, believing the promises of large sums, extradited Safarov and
made his country vulnerable.

EXPERT: TURKEY HAD A HAND IN EXTRADITION OF RAMIL SAFAROV

ARMINFO
Tuesday, September 4, 19:06

Turkey had a hand in the extradition of Ramil Safarov, an Azeri
officer who has killed a sleeping Armenian, Director of the Oriental
Studies Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia,
Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan told journalists on Tuesday.

But, according to the expert, Turkey will stay in shadow, leaving
Azerbaijan alone to answer for this. Shortly the Turkish authorities
may appear with some vague statements in an attempt to pass the buck.

“Hungary has cast a shadow on Europe’s reputation while Azerbaijan
can no longer be regarded a civilized country. That country has proved
once again that it is a totalitarian state and that democratic Nagorno-
Karabakh cannot be part of it,” the expert said.

Safrastyan did not expect such a response from Russia. “For Russia
political and economic interests are more important than humanity,”
he said.

As regards the United States, he expected such a quick reaction. “The
Americans have proclaimed themselves as an absolute democracy, so,
it would be strange if they ignored that mean act,” Safrastyan said,
urging the Armenian authorities to do their best to make use of
that situation.

ARKADY TER-TADEVOSYAN: SAFAROV IS PART OF BIG GAME OF AZERI-TURKISH AUTHORITIES, A GAME WHERE HE IS DOOMED TO DIE

ARMINFO
Tuesday, September 4, 19:54

Ramil Safarov is part of a big game of the Azeri-Turkish authorities,
a game where he is doomed to die, Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan, hero of the
Nagorno-Karabakh war, said during a press- conference on Tuesday.

“The Azeri authorities are seeking to start a new war in Nagorno-
Karabakh, and Safarov is just a tool for attaining this goal. The
Azeris have set Safarov free with a view to get rid of him later and
to blame the Armenians for his death,” Ter-Tadevosyan said.

He said that a regime needs three components for being able to start
a new war: a strong army, people’s confidence and their readiness
for war.

“Safarov is supposed to ensure the last two: by bringing him back
President Aliyev has gained people’s confidence and by killing him he
will ensure their readiness for war. He will just have first to kill
Safarov and then to say that he was killed by the Armenians. That
will be a signal for a new war,” Ter-Tadevosyan said.

He urged the Armenian authorities to prevent these plans as they
will lead to a war. “If the war happens, we will win it, but even
bad peace is always better than war,” Ter-Tadevosyan said.

APPLAUSE FOR HUNGARY: RAMIL’S RETURN IS CELEBRATED AS A VICTORY

Published on Saturday, 01 September 2012 18:54

Written by Nazila Isgandarova . .

These days, every Azerbaijani celebrate extradition of Ramil Safarov to
Azerbaijan by the signed decree of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev.

Ramil, who was the Azerbaijani lieutenant, was sentenced to life in
prison by Budapest District Court on April 13, 2006 for the 2004 axe
murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian at the NATO’s Partnership
for Peace training course in Budapest.

He confessed his criminal act but also explained why he chose to
murder Gurgen Margarian, who together with other Armenian officers
in the program insulted Ramil using abusive words in respect with
Azeri nation, captive Azerbaijani women, the impotence of Azerbaijani
soldiers and Ramil himself, to free the occupied Azerbaijani lands,
and tried to polish their boots with the national flag of Azerbaijan,
and gave him audio cassettes and books directly insulting Azerbaijan
nation.

Ramil was born in Jebrayil, one of the occupied districts of
Azerbaijan. He himself, his brother, relatives have been forced to flee
from Jebrayil and became one of the one million Azerbaijani refugees
as a result of Armenian aggression. His relatives Ramiz Agayev,
Ildirim Khuduyev, Shirin Shirinov, Kazim Shirinov, Tahir Shirinov,
Arif Alexeev and others have been killed by Armenians during the
bloody war of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Ramiz Agayev is reported to
be tortured and killed by Armenian soldiers along with 9 other Azeris.

Rape, occupation, ethnic cleansing, genocide, refugee life, and many
other horrible stories from the occupied Garabagh put their imprint in
the memory of Ramil. Millions of Azerbaijanis are still emotionally
and physically suffer when they recall the memories of Garabagh war,
especially the tragic life of Khojali women.

Armenian army together with the former soviet troops did not only
target Azerbaijani soldiers, but civilians, especially women and
children. Azerbaijani men took up their arms, went to the hills,
sought to resist the attack to their homes. The women and children
were left behind and unfortunately, defenseless. Azerbaijani women
suffered at the hands of the Armenian military forces and gangs during
the Armenian occupation and offensive attacks. Women and girls were
harassed, humiliated, and raped individually, serially, and by gangs.

Women were stripped and forced to submit sexually to the
sexual-sadistic fantansies of their persecutors, warders, and guards.

They were forced to dance and the gauntlet naked and defenseless.

Armenian military troops committed sexual crimes to humiliate as
many people as possible. They committed rapes committed in public
with an intention to terrorize Azerbaijani civilians and convince
them to flee from Garabagh.

Ramil grew up with stories how Armenian soldiers insulted the pride
of Azerbaijanis. The raped women in Khojali refused to return to
Azerbaijan and preferred to die in Armenian prison. Most of them
were pregnant, but it is hard to know what happened to these women
and children.

One Khojali witness says how the Armenian insurgents have taken all
her family in hostage. They have shot her mother, 7-years sister E.,
and aunt G. They demanded her father to declare that the Garabagh was
an Armenian land. When he refused to tell that the Armenians poured a
gasoline over him and have burnt. M. H., 33, mother of four children,
whose daughters were taken hostages, says that “in Karabagh women
learnt not to be afraid of death. They were afraid of only one thing –
to be taken hostage. Since those wild bandits, who did not have fear
of God cruelly raped girls, young girls and women.

“Many women refused to tell what happened to them in Armenian
captivity. 56 year old S. A. who witnessed rape says: “It is hard to
talk about this violence.”

These are just a sample stories to explain why Ramil decided to kill
an Armenian officer with an axe in 2004. Of course, the majority
of Azerbaijanis expected him to be calm and not to give more false
claims against Azerbaijan by the Armenian offenders. It was not a
act of a hero, though, he gained sympathy of Azerbaijanis because
Ramil is the victim of Armenian violence, Armenian terrorism and
provocative acts by Armenian officers in Budapest.

Armenians on the other hand made Margaryan their hero, who was
awarded with a posthumous Medal for Courage on February 19, 2005,
by the Armenian government.

So, what would be the consequences of Ramil’s release to Azerbaijan?

Armenian nationalists have already started a campaign against
Hungary, and demand the Armenian government to severe the diplomatic
relationships with Hungary. Meanwhile, Azerbaijanis continue to
celebrate the extradition and symbolically interpret it as a victory
against Armenia.

ED. NALBANDIAN: ATTEMPTS TO QUIT, FAIL THE NEGOTIATIONS ARE NOT MADE BY ARMENIA, BUT BY AZERBAIJAN

Armenian and Argentinean Ministers of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian
and Hector Marcos Timerman had a meeting today and then held a joint
press conference. Armenian MFA delivered a speech during the press
conference. Mr. Nalbandian especially said:

“Good morning,

I would like to welcome my Argentine colleague, who is in Armenia on
an official visit.

This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Argentina and we can
record that we have had quite intensive contacts with Argentina in
those years.

We stress the importance of warm and friendly relations with
Argentina. The proof of that fact is that we opened the first Armenian
Embassy in Latin America in Argentina, and Argentina is the first
Latin American country with which we abolished the visa regime. On
its part, the Argentine Embassy to Armenia is the first one in the
South Caucasus.

Surely, the role of massive Armenian community in Argentina plays
a great role in bilateral relations. Some time ago Argentina took
care of the survivors of the Genocide of Armenians, who became
worthy citizens of that country and nowadays through their work and
achievements keep the high name of both Armenian and Argentine peoples
at the global level.

Argentina is a country which condemned the Armenian Genocide by law.

For that I would like to present my particular gratitude to You.

Economic cooperation is an important part of our relations. Argentina
is one of the biggest investors in Armenia’s economy.

During the talks with Mr. Timerman, we touched upon quite a wide range
of issues. We agreed to continue the works towards the expansion of
legal framework between the two countries, to strengthen cooperation
in the international organizations, as well as trade and economic,
cultural and scientific and educational interaction. We touched upon
international and regional issues of mutual interest, as well.

We also discussed the recent developments in the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Mr. Timerman presented the situation around
the Malvinas/Falkland islands. We share the opinion that the issues
must be settled exclusively through peaceful means based on the
principles of international law.

Of course, we could not avoid from touching upon the situation
recently created as a result of the Hungarian-Azerbaijani disgraceful
deal. Since the crime of Safarov, Azerbaijan was consistently glorified
this horrible deed, even presenting the murderer as an example for
the youth of Azerbaijan.

How could a member-state of the Council of Europe, European Union
and NATO pretend that it believed in the vain promises of Azerbaijan
and made such suspicious step? It brought the great concern of the
international community.

Totally burying its own country in corruption, the Azerbaijani
leadership is trying to export that disease to other states, raising
it to inter-state level. During the recent years there were many
publications about this in the international media. This is a serious
warning for those states and politicians who experience the temptation
to go to such deals.

The international community cannot tolerate the continuation of
Azerbaijan’s provocative policy under the cover of negotiations”. Then
two top officials answered to the questions by the journalists.

-Recently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and other Turkish
officials have spoken out about the mediation in the negotiations
over the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and even about the holding of
the negotiations in Istanbul. Perhaps you are familiar with those
statements. What is your position on it? Thank you.

-With regard to your question on the proposals of the Turkish
side, the new attempts to mediate and to hold negotiations over
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue- what does it mean? The several meetings
held over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in different
countries and in some Russian cities recently did not bring the
expected results because they were not held in Istanbul?

Any mediation by the Turkish side or attempts to intervene in this
issue are excluded.

Turkey’s interference or attempts to mediate in issues of concern for
the neighbouring countries have never brought any positive results,
just the reverse.

Regarding the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, it has been
repeatedly said, and not only by Armenia, that Turkey cannot play
any mediating role in this issue.

-I have two questions for the Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Nalbandian, recently many speak about the possibility of the
suspension of the negotiations in the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group
by Armenia due to Safarov’s incident. Is it possible that Armenia
really may stop the negotiations due to Safarov’s incident? And
the second one, would that incident in anyway have impact on the
negotiations? Thank you.

-The incident has already had its very bad impact on the negotiations
and on regional stability and security in general. But attempts to
quit, fail the negotiations are not made by Armenia, but by Azerbaijan
and one of the reasons of this deal is that Azerbaijan still continues
those attempts.

Azerbaijan is refusing all proposals made by the Co-Chairs. You are
well-aware about our reaction after the statements made in L’Aquila,
Muskoka, Deauville and Los Cabos and you well know about Azerbaijan’s
reaction after those statements.

You are well-aware about our reaction to the proposals made by the
Co-chairs, the OSCE Chairmen-in-Office and the UN Secretary-General on
the withdrawal of snipers, consolidation of cease-fire and creation
of a mechanism to investigate cease-fire regime violations on the
front line. Those proposals and others have been continuously rejected
by Azerbaijan.

Over years this behavior of Azerbaijan finds its reflection in the
bellicose statements, threats, recurring provocations in the line
of contact, unprecedented increase of military budget. There is no
other country in the world which so intensively increases its military
budget. All those are directed at the failure of the negotiations.

Most importantly the international community should not tolerate and
allow Azerbaijan the continuation of its provocative policy under
the cover of negotiations, which is full of serious threats for the
region and not only for the region, but also for the international
security and stability.

ONE MUSTN’T KILL SAFAROV

September 4, 2012 13:42

The events of the past few days have shown that the Azerbaijani society
has serious problems. Firstly, Ilham Aliyev certainly suffers from
some psychological pathologies, since he could have pretended for some
time that Ramil Safarov is in jail and only after that organized that
show of making him a hero. However, he probably thinks that his nation
asserts itself and matures by keeping in mind the image of the one
who axed a person in sleep. I think maturing by shedding innocent,
defenseless blood is a continuation of a certain tradition. I am
convinced that there are hundreds of Azerbaijanis who don’t like it.

But taking into account the political regime in that country, their
voice cannot be heard. And besides, those people account for the
“overwhelming minority” – if they try to slightly condemn Safarov
and Aliyev’s horrible attitude afterwards, the “patriots” will attack
them so severely that they will regret for what they have said.

However, if the massive anti-Armenian psychosis is encouraged in
Azerbaijan, it doesn’t mean that the same thing should be done in
Armenia. The calls for organizing a terrorist operation against Safarov
and placing a reward on Safarov’s head are a psychosis of the same kind
– fortunately, not massive. Firstly, terrorism as a desperate move is
explainable in some cases, when one doesn’t have a state. However, we
have a state with its diplomatic and special services, which have done
a very bad job in this story. Secondly, responding with murder to a
murder, one loses his advantage, which one has gained in the propaganda
and diplomacy, as a result of that imprudent step of Aliyev. On the
contrary, one should patiently watch Safarov become a colonel and a
general, be granted the title of national hero and ashugs dedicate
their mughams to him. That sacralization of a “hero” who hacked a man
and his “feat” is surely in our interest. At the end of the day, if
one has decided to do something, one should do it without much talk,
otherwise, it becomes mere bragging. Not Safarov must be killed in some
dark corner, but those who will encroach on our land and our borders,
including the borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, must be killed
on the battlefield, regardless of their ethnicity. And the fact that
a coward who was able to “fight” a sleeping man is a hero in the
neighboring country makes me think that this country doesn’t stand a
chance in the war – a sick society cannot war. I would be concerned, if
someone in Azerbaijan started a movement against Safarov’s acquittal.

ARAM ABRAHAMYAN

ARMENIA’S PRESIDENT ASKS NOT TO BURN HUNGARIAN FLAG

NEWS.AM
September 04, 2012 | 16:26

We will take every step deservedly, Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan stated Tuesday in Gyumri city, responding to the query on
the developments with respect to Armenia’s harsh reaction on the
release of Ramil Safarov.

“The activities are underway, and these activities will be consistent,
prudent, and clear-headed. We will take every step deservedly, and
our society will be regularly informed about the work that is done,”
Sargsyan noted and added:

“I would like to address our society, specifically to the youth, and
ask them not to burn the flag of Hungary because the flag of Hungary
is not the flag of Hungary’s party in power. Hungary’s flag is not
the symbol of Hungary’s PM. We have had very good relations with the
Hungarians for hundreds of years. And the inhuman act by one person,
or one [political] party, [or by] one government should not be grounds
for us to become enemies with the Hungarians.”

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant
in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31 from Hungary,
where he was serving a life sentence-and with no expression of
either regret or remorse-for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian
lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership
for Peace program in Budapest back in 2004.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was
his act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s
government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani
president immediately granted him a pardon.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that
Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.

AX KILLER PARDON REIGNITES CAUCASUS WAR FEARS IN OIL-RICH REGION

Bloomberg

Sept 4 2012

Azerbaijan’s pardon of a convicted murderer who killed an Armenian
army officer with an ax risks reigniting a 20-year-old war between
the two foes in the energy- rich South Caucasus.

Ramil Safarov, who was serving a life sentence for slaying Gurgen
Margaryan in Budapest in 2004, was pardoned by Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev and promoted after Hungary transferred him home Aug. 31.

Armenia’s parliament will hold an emergency session today, while
Europe, the U.S. and Russia have expressed “deep concern” about
regional stability.

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 border skirmishes since a
1994 cease fire haven’t triggered renewed conflict, Safarov being
honored threatens the status quo. The territory remains a potential
flash point in a region that borders Iran and Turkey and endured a
2008 Russia-Georgia war.

Safarov’s pardon “is a serious blow to confidence building and
trust between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Sabine Freizer, director of
the International Crisis Group’s Europe Program in Istanbul, said
yesterday by e-mail. “Both in Baku and in Yerevan, there’s a growing
public impression that the time to return to war to defeat the enemy
permanently has come.”

‘Not Afraid’

Armenia has severed diplomatic ties with Hungary and lawmakers plan
to condemn Azerbaijan’s actions in a statement today. President Serzh
Sargsyan expressed anger at the decision to pardon Safarov.

“The Armenians must not be underestimated — we don’t want a war,
but if we have to, we will fight and win,” he said Sept. 2 in comments
published on his website for Nagorno-Karabakh’s Independence Day. “We
are not afraid of murderers, even of those who enjoy the highest
patronage. And again our words fall on deaf ears. Well, they have
been warned.”

Armenian terrorist organization ASALA, which has previously claimed
responsibility for killing Turkish diplomats, sent a threatening
letter to Azerbaijan’s embassy in Budapest, Azartac, the Azeri
state-run news service, reported yesterday. Security at embassies
has been stepped up, the Foreign Ministry said.

Sargsyan has instructed his security services to kill Safaro,
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said. Phone calls yesterday evening to
Armen Arzumanyan, a spokesman for the Armenian president’s office,
went unanswered.

‘Bloodthirsty Threats’

Peace in the region “depends entirely on Armenia,” Elnur Aslanov,
head of the political analysis and information- provision department
at the Azeri president’s office, said yesterday by e-mail. He called
Sargsyan’s comments provocative.

“It’s a bit odd to hear such bloodthirsty threats and calls for
intolerance from a head of state in the 21st century,” Aslanov wrote.

Safarov, who was a lieutenant when he committed the murder, received a
hero’s welcome in the Azeri capital of Baku last week and was promoted
to the rank of major. He was also given eight years’ of back pay and an
apartment, the APA news service reported, citing the Defense Ministry.

Safarov, 35, had been attending language classes with Markarian in
Budapest in February 2004 as part of training conducted by the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The U.S., France and Russia, which are leading efforts to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, Sept. 3 urged Azerbaijan and Armenia
to persist with negotiations.

Peace Talks

“We are communicating to the Azerbaijani authorities our disappointment
about the decision to pardon Safarov,” the White House said Aug. 31
in a statement. “This action is contrary to ongoing efforts to reduce
regional tensions and promote reconciliation.”

U.S. President Barack Obama and his French and Russian counterparts
called in June on the two former Soviet republics to accelerate a
road map for resolving the status of Nagorno- Karabakh, respect the
1994 cease-fire agreement and abstain from hostile rhetoric.

Talks brokered by Russia last year between Sargsyan and Aliyev failed
to yield an accord on the so-called Basic Principles to allow a
peace agreement to be reached. Azerbaijan’s and Hungary’s actions
undermine international efforts to reduce tensions in the region,
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Sept. 3.

The European Union said the same day that it was in contact with both
sides in a bid to head off any potential hostilities.

‘Exercise Restraint’

“We are particularly concerned about the possible impact that
these developments might have on the wider region,” Maja Kocijancic,
spokeswoman for European Union foreign-affairs chief Catherine Ashton,
told reporters in Brussels. “We call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to
exercise restraint on the ground and in public statements in order
to prevent any kind of escalation of this situation.”

Companies led by London-based BP Plc (BP/) have invested more than $35
billion in Azerbaijan’s oil and natural-gas fields. Azerbaijan can
pump as much as 1.2 million barrels of oil a day to Turkey through
the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which is part-funded by the West
to allow supplies to bypass Russia.

The country may also be a source of natural gas for Azerbaijan’s
EU-backed Trans-Anatolia pipeline across Turkey.

Surging oil prices allowed Azerbaijan to double military spending to
more than $2 billion in 2010 and emboldened Aliyev to threaten the
use of military force to regain Nagorno- Karabakh. Regular border
clashes continue to break out.

Border Clashes

Military spending will reach $3.6 billion this year, about 60 percent
more than Armenia’s state budget, Aliyev told a Cabinet meeting
in June.

The fallout over Safarov’s release probably won’t spark a new armed
conflict, according to Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East analyst at
the Carnegie Center in Moscow.

“There have been more border skirmishes between the two countries this
year, but this is far from a war,” he said yesterday by phone. The
situation simply shows that the two countries “aren’t prioritizing
reconciliation.”

June was the deadliest month “in a long time” for border clashes, with
at least 10 people confirmed killed, the ICG’s Freizer said. An Azeri
soldier died and another was wounded in clashes along the cease-fire
line last week, according to Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry. Armenia
denies Azeri claims that two of its soldiers were also killed.

The “glorification” of Margaryan’s murder by Azerbaijan closes any
avenues for normalizing relations with Armenia and should concern
the West and Russia, according to IHS Global Insight analyst Lilit
Gevorgyan.

This “certainly increases the security risk for the region,” Gevorgyan
said by e-mail. “A new war is the last thing that the EU, U.S. and
Russia need right now in that region with the escalation of relations
with Iran.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Zulfugar Agayev in Baku at
[email protected] Henry Meyer in Moscow at [email protected]

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES USA JOINS ECUMENICAL LEADERS

National Council of Churches USA

Sept 4 2012

New York, September 4, 2012 – The National Council of Churches
president and a former NCC president have joined international
ecumenical leaders to protest Hungary’s release of an Azerbaijani
army officer convicted in 2006 of killing an Armenian officer.

Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, a former National Council of Churches
president and a member of the World Council of Churches Central
Committee, said Hungary “has fallen victim to the continued
anti-Armenian policies and actions of Azerbaijan.”

The release of an officer convicted of killing an Armenian on
Hungarian soil “does nothing to further our quest for peace and
stability for all people in the region,” said Aykazian, legate of
the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in America.

According to press reports, Armenia severed diplomatic ties with
Hungary after Azerbaijani Lt. Ramil Safarov, serving a life sentence
for the murder of an Armenian officer, was released and returned to
Azerbaijan, where he was pardoned and freed.

Safarov confessed to murdering Armenian Lt. Gurgen Markarian in 2004
when the two were in Hungary on a NATO assignment.

National Council of Churches President Kathryn M. Lohre, also a member
of the WCC Central Committee, said the amnesty “threatens to undermine
justice and peace in the region through the cessation of diplomatic
ties, and the strain on human relationships. We commit ourselves to
pray for and stand in solidarity with all those who strive for human
rights, peace, and understanding.”

The Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, in a letter to Prime Minister Viktor
Orban of Hungary, said the release of Safarov “appears as an action
that was not properly considered on the part of the Hungarian
government. Safarov’s release by the Azerbaijan government, despite
his life sentence, runs counter to normative practices of justice.”

Tveit condemned “actions that severely undermine justice and
reconciliation for the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the
region, who have a right to live side by side with dignity, respect
for human rights and in freedom.”

In a letter to His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of all Armenians,
Hungarian church leaders expressed their dismay over their government’s
action.

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,
wrote: “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.”

MOSCOW CRITICIZES RELEASE OF CONVICTED KILLER

Moscow Times

Sept 4 2012
Russia

The Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed concerns over Azerbaijan’s
decision to pardon a convicted killer Hungary sent back to Azerbaijan
to serve his prison sentence.

Lieutenant Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by a
Hungarian court after he confessed to killing Lieutenant Gurgen
Markarian, an Armenian, while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO
language course.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a long-standing feud over
the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s president pardoned and freed Safarov after he was
returned home on Friday, prompting Armenia to break off diplomatic
ties with Hungary.

Hungarian authorities insisted that they returned Safarov, 35, to
Azerbaijan only after receiving assurances from the Azeri Justice
Ministry that Safarov’s sentence, which included the possibility of
parole after 25 years, would be enforced.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry, an important broker in the
Armenia-Azerbaijan feud, condemned Safarov’s release in a statement
Monday, saying that it hampers peace-keeping efforts by Russia and
other international mediators.

“We believe that these actions of Azeri as well as Hungarian
authorities contradict internationally brokered efforts, of the
OSCE’s Minsk group in particular, to ease tensions in the region,”
the ministry said.

The White House also has criticized the decision to free Safarov.

About 150 demonstrators gathered in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan,
over the weekend to set the Hungarian flag ablaze and demand an end
to talks on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

During his trial in Budapest, Safarov said the conflict was at the
root of his actions.

He used an ax to kill Markarian while the victim was sleeping in a
dormitory room. Safarov said Markarian had repeatedly provoked and
ridiculed him.