Author: nina hovnanian

Azerbaijan violated the ceasefire 300 times in the past week

ARMRADIO.AM
01.09.2012 14:27

According to the data of the NKR Defense Army, about 300 cases of
ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani side were registered at the
line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and
Azerbaijan from August 26 to September 1.

The rival fired more than 1,500 shots from weapons of different
caliber in the direction of the Armenian positions.

Committed to the maintenance of the ceasefire regime, divisions of the
NKR Defense Army refrained from response actions and confidently
protected the military positions all along the line of contact.

Picket in Yerevan against a couple of unpunished “heroes”

ARMINFO
Saturday, September 1, 13:30

Vahe Avetyan public movement is organizing a picket in front of the
Harsnakar Restaurant on September 1. A relevant announcement was
disseminated on Facebook.

The protest action is entitled “A picket against a couple of
unpunished ‘heroes’ -Ruben Hayrapetyan – Safarov.” “While the
oligarch’s bodyguard beats an Armenian officer Vahe Avetyan to death
in Armenia, the Hungarian authorities decide to extradite another
criminal, Azerbaijani officer, who murdered Armenian officer Gurgen
Margaryan in Hungary and leave it unpunished,” the Movement writes on
his Facebook page.

The picket is expected to bring together several dozens of people at
7:00pm on Sept 1.

Iranian President: Iran’s stance on Karabakh is crystal clear – Iran
is trying to forge understanding and raise a fair solution to problem

ARMINFO
Saturday, September 1, 13:22

President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday received Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, on the sidelines of the 16th NAM
Summit, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.

Welcoming Nalbandian, the Iranian president expressed warm memories of
his visit to Armenia in December and said that the arrangements
achieved with the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan are currently
being fulfilled.

Minister Nalbandian congratulated President Ahmadinejad on behalf of
Serzh Sargsyan on assuming chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement
and organization of the Summit at the high level. The two parties
highlighted the developing cooperation, the implementation of process
of economic projects, the project of Armenia-Iran third high-voltage
power transmission lines, construction of the HPP on the River of Araz
and construction of the oil pipeline.

In his meeting with Nalbandian, the President said Iran considers no c
limit for expansion of relations with Armenia.

Saying that Iran’s stance on Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh is
crystal clear, President Ahmadinejad said certainly, Iran has been
following up its clear-cut and fair stance, trying to forge
understanding and raise a fair solution to problems.

The Armenian FM for his part said Armenia attaches high significance
to accords and NAM statement. He urged all-out expansion of relations
with Iran.

While in Tehran Minister Nalbandian had a meeting also with Ali
Larijani, Speaker of Majlis [Iranian Parliament]. Nalbandian stressed
the importance of effective cooperation of the Armenian and Iranian
legislative bodies, formation of friendship groups in the newly
elected parliaments of the two countries. The two parties discussed
also issues on the bilateral agenda and a number of regional problems.

Armenian Bar Association Condemns the Extradition of Convicted
Azerbaijani Murderer from Hungary to Azerbaijan as “Justice for Sale”

12:47, September 1, 2012

When two nations engage in conduct circumventing and bartering
justice, as Azerbaijan and Hungary have done in the case of convicted
murderer Azeri Ramil Safarov of Armenian Gurgen Markaryan, their
actions speak volumes about their lack of respect for the rule of
international law and principles of post-conviction extradition and
prisoner transfers.

Either the government in Budapest is complicit in this blatant
disregard and exploitation of international law, or itself has now
been victimized and is the latest nation of a long list of nations
which have been hoodwinked by the deceptiveness of the Azeri
government, which continues to engage in conduct to solely advance its
“Holier than Thou” narcissistic view of itself and the sense of
entitlement with which it operates.

Such a mode of operation may very well be attempted by those who
subscribe to behavior which disregards accepted norms of international
conduct, then rationalized perhaps as diplomacy and politics.
However, at its core, it is anything but diplomacy or politics.

Such conduct is perpetuating the previous victimization and murder of
an innocent Armenian soldier, not on a battlefield, but on Hungarian
soil and, now it seems, in an abyss of utter disrespect of the legal
systems and legitimacy of nations, in this case Hungary.

President Ilham Aliyev’s pardon of the murderer Safarov is a shameful
repudiation of another sovereign as well as of its people whose laws,
after being violated and spat upon, have been rendered a nullity.

To add despicable insult to heinous injury, Safarov, after gloating
and luxuriating in Baku’s red-carpet welcome, is being paraded around
Azerbaijan as a national hero.

Such conduct is also an affront to the Republic of Armenia, its people
and its government, the Armenian nation worldwide, as well as the
international community, from the European Union to the United
Nations.

Such conduct is no different than an ally of the United States
engaging in atrocities and in the killing of innocent lives anywhere
on the globe, with the United States sitting and watching idly by.

The Azeri government and its President, with the stroke of a pen, just
smeared and desecrated all international documents, treaties, laws and
any notion of fundamental fairness and justice. In so doing, this
rogue nation declared to all civilized nations that their people, in
the absence of any aggression or provocation, are above being held
accountable. Azerbaijan has declared that its soldier, a convicted
murderer of an innocent Armenian, like the country he is from and
belongs to, is above the law.

What are the United States and Canada going to do about it ? What is
the European Union going to do about it? What are the United Nations
and the civilized nations of the world going to do about it?

The President of the Republic of Armenia, Serge Sargsyan, has
announced that its government has cut diplomatic ties with the
government of Hungary. Whereas that may be fine for starters, where do
we go from here? Where do Armenia and the Armenian people worldwide go
from here?

Thus far only one thing is clear: justice was for sale in Hungary and
the Azeri government just bought Hungarian justice. But, more
importantly and far more alarmingly, the Azeri government also bought
international justice, or, at the least, hijacked it.

Whether buying justice or hijacking it is worse may be debated.
However, one thing which reasonable minds and nations cannot disagree
upon is that the Azeris now are the proud owners of international
justice, bought and paid for by the blood of an innocent Armenian.

The Armenian Bar Association condemns “Justice for Sale.”

We hold the seller, Hungary, the buyer, Azerbaijan, and all other
nations which sit silently, accountable for the rapid deterioration of
the integrity, the honor, and the fundamental notions of
accountability upon which international law and justice are based.

Garo Ghazarian
Chairman,
Armenian Bar Association
August 31, 2012

Putin’s Scenario and Safarov

Haik Aramyan

Story from Lragir.am News:

Published: 13:04:24 – 01/09/2012

Obviously, Azerbaijan would not be able to carry out `Safarov project’
without Russia’s help. It has become known that a Russia-based
Azerbaijani businessman, Ilham Rahimov, played a big role in Safarov’s
extradition who was Putin’s classmate.

It is clear that Rahimov implemented the financial aspect of the
project but it would not be possible without political support. It is
also clear that in a country like Russia there are no independent
major businessmen and they are under the control of the political
leadership. And since the issue had an interstate and international
importance, it is also clear that the project was implemented with the
intervention of the Russian political leadership.

This development is certainly a severe political and moral brunt for
the Armenians, Armenia and its government. It overlaps with a period
when Moscow does everything to push Armenia into the Eurasian Union.
Besides, CSTO exercise was planned in September in Armenia in which
Putin would take part and mark the `attachment’ of Armenia. However,
the exercise was postponed, and instead Putin NATO Secretary General
will visit Armenia.

Russia’s behavior is not something strange. Moscow has never flirted
with the Armenians and has always acted by rude and tough methods.
Beginning with the treatment of Armenians living in Russia where
thousands of Armenians have been killed on ethnic grounds in the
post-Soviet period ending with interference with domestic life of
Armenia. The leverages for that are economic, political, as well as
experts and opposition. The gesture of presenting the original of the
anti-Armenian agreement signed in Moscow in 1921 to the Turkish prime
minister and reiteration of Russia’s commitment to it was worth
anything. By this agreement vast Armenian territories were annexed by
Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Russia has never been flirted with Armenia because Armenia has never
resisted and shown its teeth unlike Georgia and Azerbaijan. Russia is
used that the more it hits and humiliates Armenia, the quieter and
more obedient Armenia becomes. And it has every reason for that. The
Armenian political leadership did not demand any explanation from our
`strategic partner for the same Moscow agreement or arms supplies to
Azerbaijan. Moreover, the Armenian politicians and experts usually set
to justify and excuse Moscow.’

Will Moscow’s scenario succeed this time as well? Action is equal to
counteraction, the wise of the ancient world said. Moscow has taken a
step which is, in fact, a gift to the Armenians and can be used
against Moscow. It is certainly hard to expect such a step from the
Armenian government but this step must be taken before Armenia is
caught in the Eurasian bog. Armenia must eventually make a choice, and
now it is the best time.

Azerbaijani president will have to pay for lack of reason ` former
Armenian presidential spokesman

tert.am
20:20 ¢ 31.08.12

The extradition of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan and President Ilham
Aliyev’s granting his a pardon caused a storm in social networks.

Samvel Farmanyan, former presidential spokesman, expressed his opinion
on his Facebook page.

`The Hungarian authorities extraditing Ramil Safarov and, just a few
hours later, Ilham Aliyev’s granting a pardon to the murderer who was
sentenced to life imprisonment caused indignation of all Armenians¦As
a nation we are obliged to show coolness and aim at achieving the
optimal results.

`As far as I can recall, the world’s modern history, even the history
of the most authoritarian regimes, does not know a case when a state
leader behaves as a mere killer. Ilham Aliyev, who declared hatred for
Armenians the cornerstone of the country’s foreign policy and has a
special talent for heroizing murderers, has acted in opposition to not
only the international community, but also common sense and
fundamental principles of humanisms underlying the civilization. As a
rule, this is unpardonable.

`As a person who worked with Serzh Sargsyan and, by force of
circumstances, was present at the Serzh Sargsyan-László Sólyom talks,
can state with confidence that our retaliatory steps will bе based
cool planning, decentralized, effective, with one of them to be fury.

`Time and further developments will show if Aliyev’s step would prove
right and what Azerbaijan and its owner would gain or lose. Ilham
Aliyev’s predecessors made similar emotional decisions, with obvious
consequences for Azerbaijan. And, like his predecessors, Ilham Aliyev,
not at the expense of his family, but at the expense of his nation
will have to pay for the lack of elementary reasons needed to rule a
country.’

WASHINGTON A OFFICIELLEMENT CONDAMNE L’AZERBAIDJAN DANS L’AFFAIRE SAFAROV
Krikor Amirzayan

armenews.com
samedi 1er septembre 2012

La reaction de Washington n’a pas tarde, suit a la liberation de
l’assassin Azeri Ramil Safarov par le president Aliev. Selon Tommy
Vietor le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche, Barack Obama est ”
profondement inquiet ” sur cette affaire avec la grâce presidentielle
de l’Azerbaïdjan dont a beneficie l’assassin.

” Ramil Safarov a avoue avoir a 2004 assassine a Budapest l’officier de
l’armee armenienne Kourken Markarian et fut condamne par le tribunal
hongrois a la prison a vie. Nous avons joint les dirigeants de
l’Azerbaïdjan et avons signifie notre surprise a propos de la grâce
presidentielle dont beneficia Safarov. Ce fait est en contradiction
avec la baisse de la tension et les efforts pour la paix dans la region
” a annonce dans un communique Washington. Les Etats-Unis demandent
a la Hongrie des explications au sujet de l’extradition de Safarov a
l’Azerbaïdjan. A noter que la communaute armenienne des Etats-Unis
a reagi très vigoureusement a ces faits et demande a Barack Obama
des explications.

SERGE SARKISSIAN DEVANT LES AMBASSADEURS : ” L’ARMENIE NE LE PARDONNERA JAMAIS. ”
Ara

armenews.com
samedi 1er septembre 2012

Intervention du President de la Republique d’Armenie, M. Serge
Sarkissian, devant les Ambassadeurs accredites en Armenie : Mesdames
et Messieurs les Ambassadeurs : Il s’agit malheureusement d’une
occasion hors normes que celle qui nous a nous a amenee aujourd’hui
a vous inviter a la Presidence. Comme vous devez le savoir, un
officier de l’armee azerie qui avait assassine l’officier armenien
Gurgen Margaryan, a ete extrade par la Hongrie vers l’Azerbaïdjan. Le
President de l’Azerbaïdjan – et nous l’avions mis en garde a ce sujet
a plusieurs reprises – l’a immediatement gracie.

Cela s’est produit parce que le gouvernement de la Hongrie, un Etat
membre de l’Union europeenne et de l’OTAN, a conclu un marche avec
les autorites de l’Azerbaïdjan.

Je ne veux pas revenir sur les circonstances de l’assassinat de Gurgen
Margaryan, vous en etes très bien informe. Comme le procès l’avait
demontre, cet homicide horrible a eu lieu seulement parce que Gurgen
Margaryan etait Armenien.

Immediatement après ce crime, les autorites hongroises ainsi que nos
partenaires – les Etats membres de l’UE et de l’OTAN, nous ont sans
cesse invites a nous abstenir de politiser cet evenement. Nous avons
ete constamment invites a faire confiance a la justice de la Hongrie,
un Etat membre de ces structures importantes.

Nous avons suivi de près tous les developpements de l’affaire relative
a ce criminel. Il en a ete discute lors de chaque rencontre avec
le President, le President du Parlement, le Ministre des Affaires
etrangères et l’Ambassadeur de la Hongrie, et on nous a assure a
plusieurs reprises qu’une extradition ou un retour du criminel en
Azerbaïdjan etait exclu. Nous avons recu cette meme reponse a nos
demandes lors de nos contacts il y a encore quelques jours avec les
representants du ministère hongrois des Affaires etrangères et du
Parlement. Mais en raison d’evolutions des plus perfides, le meurtrier
a ete extrade a Bakou et a retrouve la liberte.

Je n’ai rien a dire au sujet de l’Azerbaïdjan – tout simplement rien.

Ce pays temoigne ce qu’il est par ces demarches, et ce n’est pas a
moi de les expliquer.

Mesdames et Messieurs les Ambassadeurs :

Avec leurs actions conjointes, les autorites de la Hongrie et
l’Azerbaïdjan ont ouvert la porte a la repetition de tels crimes. Avec
cette decision, ils vehiculent un message clair aux assassins ;
ils savent desormais qu’un assassinat pour des motifs ethniques ou
religieux peut rester impuni.

Je ne peux le tolerer.

LA REPUBLIQUE D’ARMENIE ne peut le tolerer.

La nation armenienne ne le pardonnera jamais.

J’annonce officiellement qu’a partir d’aujourd’hui, nous suspendons nos
relations diplomatiques et tous les contacts officiels avec la Hongrie.

Nous attendons une reaction precise et sans equivoque de tous nos
partenaires en ce qui concerne cet incident.

Ceux qui le tolèrent en seront responsables demain devant l’histoire.

Les demi-mesures et des circonlocutions ne sont pas acceptables.

Nous allons juger l’attitude de nos partenaires envers la securite
de la nation armenienne par leur reaction a cet incident.

Je vous demande instamment de transmettre mon message personnel a
vos chefs d’Etats et de gouvernements.

C’est tout ce que je voulais dire. Je ne sais pas si cela aurait un
sens d’entamer une sequence de question-reponse ou pas ? Je pense
que non, car ce qui s’est passe peut difficilement etre accepte par
un esprit raisonnable. Un pays qui se considère comme developpe et
civilise n’a pas le droit de se comporter de cette facon, et il merite
bien une evaluation en consequence de ses partenaires.

AZERBAIJANI MILITARY OFFICER SERVING LIFE FOR MURDER IN HUNGARY IS FREED WHEN SENT HOME

Newser

Aug 31 2012

Armenia broke off diplomatic ties with Hungary after an Azerbaijani
military officer sentenced to life in prison here for killing an
Armenian officer was sent back to his homeland on Friday and, despite
assurances, immediately pardoned and freed.

Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by the Budapest
City Court after he confessed to killing Lt. Gurgen Markarian of
Armenia while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are ex-Soviet neighbors who have been
locked in a long-standing conflict over the mountainous territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In response to Safarov’s release, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian
said his country was cutting diplomatic ties with Hungary, while
Hungarian state news agency MTI reported that protesters in the
Armenian capital of Yerevan threw tomatoes at the building housing
Hungary’s honorary consulate and the tore down the Hungarian flag.

Sarkisian said Armenia was “halting diplomatic relations and all
official ties with Hungary.”

The White House also criticized the decision to free Safarov.

“President Obama is deeply concerned by today’s announcement that
the President of Azerbaijan has pardoned Ramil Safarov following
his return from Hungary,” said a statement from National Security
Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor. “We are communicating to Azerbaijani
authorities our disappointment about the decision to pardon Safarov.

This action is contrary to ongoing efforts to reduce regional tensions
and promote reconciliation.”

Vietor added that Hungary was also being asked to explain its decision
to send Safarov home.

While Armenians were livid over Safarov’s release, he is considered
a hero by many in Azerbaijan for having killed an Armenian.

Hungary returned the 35-year-old Safarov to Azerbaijan only after
receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that
Safarov’s sentence, which included the possibility of parole after
25 years, would be enforced.

“The Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan has further informed the
Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary that Ramil
Sahib Safarov’s sentence will not be modified but will immediately
continue to be enforced, based on the Hungarian judgment,” the
Hungarian ministry said in a statement issued before the news of
Safarov’s release was known.

The ministry said it based its decision on the 1983 Strasbourg
Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

In a brief statement posted in English on his website, Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev decreed Friday that Safarov “should be freed
from the term of his punishment.”

Hungary’s Justice Ministry did not immediately respond to a request
for comment on Safarov’s release.

Hungary, which depends on Russia for most of its energy imports, has
been seeking to expand its economic relations with oil-rich Azerbaijan.

Laszlo Borbely, the deputy director of Hungary’s Government Debt
Management Agency last week told daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet that
talks between the two countries about a possible purchase by Azerbaijan
of up to 3 billion euros ($3.77 billion) in Hungarian bonds were only
at an “exploratory phase” for now.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, but has remained under
the control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since
the end of a six-year separatist war in 1994. Diplomatic efforts
to settle the conflict have brought no result, and shootings on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border have been common.

During his trial in Budapest, Safarov claimed that the conflict was
at the root of his actions and that he used an ax to kill Markarian
while the victim was sleeping in a dormitory room after the Armenian
repeatedly provoked and ridiculed him.

“My conscience was clouded as a result of the insults and humiliating
and provoking behavior, and I lost all control,” Safarov told the
court in April 2006.

Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan’s army out of the ethnic
Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. A 1994
cease-fire ended the six-year war that killed 30,000 people and left
about 1 million homeless and the enclave is now under the control of
ethnic Armenians.

Safarov’s lawyers said that his parents and relatives were exiled
from Nagorno-Karabakh during the war and that two of his relatives
were killed by ethnic Armenian separatists.

___

Aida Sultanova in Baku, Azerbaijan, contributed to this report.

UKRAINE AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN: “THE REPORTS ABOUT UKRAINE’S ARMS SALE TO ARMENIA ARE FALSE”

APA
Aug 31 2012
Azerbaijan

Baku. Anakhanum Hidayatova-APA. Ukraine’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Alexander Mishchenko said the reports about Ukraine’s arms sale to
Armenia are false.

These reports won’t influence the relationship between Azerbaijan
and Ukraine, Mishchenko told APA: “The claims that Ukraine sent and
continues to send arms to Armenia are not true. There are so warm
and transparent friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Ukraine
that we never hide anything.’

The ambassador thinks that maybe such information was spread by the
people who dislike these relations: “If good relations are established
between two countries someone doesn’t like it. If you think about
this you will understand who doesn’t like it.”

Recently reports have been spread about the arms deal between the
Ukrspetsexport and DG Arms Corporation (the mediator of Armenian
Defense Ministry) on 12 units of Smerch multiple rocket launching
systems and their components, 50 Igla MANPADS supply.