BY NANORE BARSOUMIAN
From The Armenian Weekly
Armenia’s Justice Minister to Hungarian counterpart: I would have resigned
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev has promoted Ramil Safarov from the rank of Lieutenant to Major, a day after the latter was extradited to Azerbaijan from Hungary and received a pardon from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, reported News.az.
Abiyev congratulated Safarov on his return to the country. 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.
Safarov was found guilty of premeditated murder, and was sentenced to life in prison in April 2006, with possibility of parole after 30 years, after confessing hacking to death 26-year old Armenian Lt. Gurgen Markarian while the latter was asleep in his dormitory room. Safarov and the victim were in Hungary for a NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace English language courses in 2004. Safarov had struck Markaryan 16 times with an axe, almost decapitating him. Following the murder he had walked over to another Armenian officer’s room, hoping to commit a second murder, but had found his door locked.
Azerbaijan’s Justice Ministry had assured officials in Hungary that Safarov would continue serving his sentence in Azerbaijan. However, hours after his arrival on an Azerbaijani Airways special flight, President Aliyev signed an order to pardon Safarov. The pardon became effective on the day of signing.
Praise for pardon in Azerbaijan
Commenting on Safarov’s extradition and pardon, Azerbaijani MP Ganira Pashayeva told an Azeri news outlet that “this is a great event not only for Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan, but for the whole Turkish people living inside and outside Azerbaijan.”
“Ramil is one of the heroes of our people. I congratulate our people and his relatives. I believe that Ramil was always beneficial for his people and will continue to be so,” said Pashayeva, who added that this was a message to the youth that the state will support all those who serve their country.
In an interview with News.az, member of Azerbaijan’s Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security Zahid Oruj said that his government was “twice able to negotiate with the Hungarian side to release [Safarov,]” but the efforts were fruitless—once due to the resignation of Hungarian President Pal Schmitt, and another time due to the resignation of the Minister of Justice.
Oruj, who—along with MP Azay Guliyev—was directly involved in securing Safarov’s extradition, also claimed that the purpose of opening an Azerbaijani embassy in Hungary was to secure Safarov’s release. “The main purpose of the establishment of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary was to ensure the legal protection of Ramil Safarov. Azerbaijan in a short time was able to bring its relations with Hungary to the highest level,” he said, and added that President Aliyev, through securing Safarov’s release, “has made a contribution to the liberation of Karabakh.”
Oruj also said that the Azerbaijani people experienced “anxiety” when Safarov was imprisoned, and that his release will help “raise the moral and psychological mood of the society.”
Armenian Justice Minister sends letter to Hungarian counterpart
Armenian Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan, in a letter addressed to his counterpart, Hungarian Administration and Justice Minister Tibor Navracsics, expressed his “indignation and concern” at Ramil Safarov’s extradition.
“I am certain that you should have known what will happen with Safarov in Azerbaijan. You should have known that you [were] transfer[ing] a person, having committed a murder based on motive of racial hostility, to a country where he is considered a hero. You must have known that [this] is a slap first of all to the justice of Hungary and generally to the whole European value system,” wrote Tovmasyan.
Tovmasyan said that he did not believe that Azerbaijan’s assurances to Navracsics were satisfactory. “You should not have transferred Safarov to a country where he was made a hero by the Azerbaijani authorities for years,” he said.
“I would have resigned in your place as a minister,” wrote Tovmasyan. “However, even in case of resignation, the family of Gurgen Margaryan, the Armenian people, and the whole progressive humanity will remember you as the one having ‘justified’ the murderer,” he added.
Tovmasyan concluded by saying that his ministry will break all bilateral relations with the Ministry of Administration and Justice of Hungary.
A day earlier, Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Hungary, following a National Security Council meeting
Nanore Barsoumian is the assistant editor of the Armenian Weekly. She earned her B.A. degree in Political Science and English from the University of Massachusetts (Boston).
Your Justice Minister can do better than this. Indict the Azeri savage in Armenia for murder, file an international warrant for his arrest with Interpol (he could then be arrested entering another country), file extradition requests for his capture and deportation to Armenia against Azerbaijan, suspend any participation of Armenia in any NATO “program” with Azerbaijan, allow the family of Lt Markarian to sue the murderer and his Govt. for damages, Instruct your secret service to capture (or kill) this low-life axe murderer, announce to US/NATO that you are forced to “enhance” your defenses against Azerbaijan in the event of an attack and that the use of wmd’s in response to an all-out attack is now “on the table”. He could also demand Hungary issue a warrant for his arrest and be returned to serve the remainder of his prison sentence. I could add even more “tips”. There is no question in my mind that the Aliyev dictatorship, due to recent actions including attacks and ceasefire violations, has now been relegated to the “regime change” wish list.
Even Clinton knows this.
Justice in the islamic world is only for muslims, killing the kuffar is justified in islam. It is naive of us to think that these barbarians will act civilized just because they have received Western education. Western policies side with those who have oil or countries rich with natural resources or like Turkey have a strategic position geo-politically. Even Israel, a country with history of the Holocaust deny the Armenian genocide to appease to the Turks.
Unless Armenians miraculously discover oil or other riches in Armenia, or we multiply through breeding very quickly, I’m afraid we will continue to struggle for justice in this unfair world.
where do we sign up for the breeding experiment? cuz im down!!:)
Aliyev better stop asking for territorial integrity. If his wish ever happens,
180000 Armenians will descend upon the head of Safarov.
Once again, the world will soon remember to never trust the brothers in crime Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their legacy of murders, massacres and Genocide will never be forgotten. The role model for an Azeri is apparently a coward axe murderer.
Go ahead America. Go and support these Turkish animals. Go ahead and support the Turks who are the author of the word Genocide. Shame on us Americans.
Please stop this nonsense
First of all, what I see NATO has sole responsibility with this. They organized ordered and controlled this so called “educational program for future peace missions” they should know enough about pouting together two rival nation’s young soldiers and turned back their face. Armenia should demand NATO to return this killer back Hungary and serve all sentences there. Otherwise Armenia should back its future “peace mission cooperation” with NATO. If you do not respect your principles nobody will for you:
What happened was typical Western/NATO style provocation followed up by typical Turkic behavior. Armenia reserves the right to have the rabid animal in question killed. I hope Russia’s special services can provide Yerevan with some assistance with that regard.
Nevertheless, this was a great opportunity to again show our Hollywood-struck peasantry in Armenia and in the diaspora the true face of not only Turkic peoples but that of the political West as well. Don’t fool yourselves into thinking this is an isolated incident involving only Hungary. The British did something very similar with the Lockerbie bomber couple of years ago.
The point being, Western leaders are of the type that would sell their mothers and daughters into prostitution to make a quick profit. The Western world today is totally devoid of culture, morality, nationality, family and God. Western Globalism has turned westerners into animals.
Western leaning idiots in Yerevan need to come to the realization that Armenia’s future lies with Russia. Closer and deeper cooperation with the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran is Armenia’s only way forward in the Caucasus. Anyone that does not agree with this is either an agent of the West or an idiot.
Therefore, official Yerevan needs to –
Shut down any NGO in Armenia that is operating with funds being brought from European or American sources.
Shut down any “news” organization that is not homegrown and funded by domestic sources.
Stop using English as the second language in the republic (Armenian youth would be better off learning Russian, German, French… and why not Persian, Chinese and Hindi).
Cut ties with Brussels and NATO (they are falling apart away).
Cut ties with Globalist institutions such as the IMF and USAID (they pose an immense danger to the healthy and well being of developing nations).
Finally, cut ties with Washington (has been and will always be an anti-Armenian vipers nest)…
Mr President, please, please enough is enough! Do not meet anymore these criminal and fascist politicians from Baku! Hungry did a big mistake.. Still as an Armenian ask, please do not burn flag of Hungry!
Where is Ms Catherine Ashton ???????? Is she still alive? ??? I suggest we will hear from Ms Catherine Ashton when Karabakh holds another election. Somebody from corrupt EU has any way to condom NKR for holding elections!
Hungary was on the side of Ottoman Turks as they did try to capture Vienna!- what do you expect else form Turkyified Europeans???? -the history is reaping itself..
If this pshycotic axe murdere is a hero, I wonder what type of animals the crimilas in azeri jails are like.
This is great for Armenia, really great, becasue with one stupid azeri turkic move they have highlighetd to the world what type of geneticaly inbred people run the fake nation of azerbajian..
This was the best form of propganda we need to demonstarte why we cannot never again live under the rule of the turks who celebrate axe murderes as national heros & in case of Hran Dink the policemen who took a photo with the killer with a turkish flag behind them..
Thank you azertbajian for cemeting our resolve and our belief that never again will we allow animals to occuppy our beautiful Artsakh..
So obamby and the diabolical democrats jump on this issue like bees to honey and pretend to be “very concerned” about the extradition of scumbag safarov to azerbaijan. I bet this so called “concern” wont last past November. They probably decided to jump on this issue because they know they don’t have any credibility left for another April pledge with our community. obamby has proven himself to be a backstabbing hypocrite. So am I going to give him a second chance in november…HELL NO!
Apparently our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nalbandian, is studying the case.
I guess no one can argue with having a studious FM.
These are the types of savages that Armenia faces and the morons in the United Nations allowed Azerbajian to bribe their way to a seat in the UN security council. Azerbajian is bribing every politician it can. It is obvious that the Hungarians got big bribes also.
If the Armenian oligarchs are true patriots, they should donate money to the Armenian government to purchase better tanks and weapons systems. These Azeris are psychos and the Armenian military needs to have better equipment because the Azeris are buying alot of Israeli weapons systems like the Spyder surface to air missle and drones.
When nations like USA, UK, France and Israel do not bother with the historical facts about the Armenian genocide, why do we think one life will matter to them? The West are competing over the natural resources of Azerbaijan, they are bending backwards to please them, world players have no interest in the Armenians under the circumstances. Unless we become big players in modern politics, I’m afraid we can only depend on ourselves.
This outrageous act of “realpolitik” cowardice by the Hungarian government should be properly condemned and a reversal of this base decision be demanded by the Armenian government and all Armenians, as is being done already.Nothing short of returning this savage criminal back to Hungarian jail to serve out his sentence should satisfy the Armenian side.
The same outrage, however, should be directed to the European Union and NATO. It is impossible to imagine that, as a member of both of these organizations, Hungarians did not inform their bosses and obtained their approval, albeit a tacit one, on such a move, with potential explosive implications for all the parties involved. If no actions, I emphasize ACTIONS, are taken by the EU and NATO to rectify the situation, Armenia should seriously re- evaluate its relationship with these entities. It would, of course, be interesting to see the reaction of NATO member Turkey, who goes around trying teach others about the sanctity of human life and just punishment of criminals.
One would not be too far off to suggest that this sordid affair is part of an ongoing campaign, started with the alleged Iranian money laundering claim, by “the big boys” to squeeze and provoke Armenia, in order to obtain concessions for their chosen partner in Baku.This is not a good place for Armenians to be, but in every adversity, there is an opportunity.With cool heads and some critical thinking, we should be able to use this incident not only to restore the just punishment for the murderer of a fellow Armenian, but also to do some “squeezing” of our own and obtain concessions from the same powers who allowed this to happen.
Speaking of cool heads. We should all keep in mind that this criminal exchange took place between the governments of Hungary and Azerbaijan. The Hungarian people had no say in this and were kept in dark.
We should act as a civilized and noble people that we are and not resort to actions and rhetoric that will insult the Hungarian people, who, after all, just like us, suffered under the Ottoman and Soviet yokes for decades.
This is a disgrace for all mankind. In saying “mankind”, I exclude Azerbaijan for obvious reasons. There, such barbarians are considered heros.
It is also disgusting that NATO is keeping silent, and the EU has just made a ffeble attemt to express disappointment. Alijev and Azbdn is presiding over EU this year, what a joke! Interestingly, Azerbaijan and Aliev gave a letter to the Hungarian side promising Safarov he will imprisoned for 25 years at home if extradited, but immediately broke their word. how typical of an Oriental Despot.
<< Praise for pardon in Azerbaijan
Commenting on Safarov’s extradition and pardon, Azerbaijani MP Ganira Pashayeva told an Azeri news outlet that “this is a great event not only for Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan, but for the whole Turkish people living inside and outside Azerbaijan.” <<
This means that Azerbaijan officially grants any Armenian the moral license to kill Azeris.
Azerbaijan hereby officially recognizes that any such incident is to be considered an act of self-defense.
Axing armenian soldier in the city of Budapest planed by azary terrorist president,performed by his azari terroristoperative, under cover of student.
Hungarian government failed to protect the life of victim, failed to fulfil justice properly,the victims family wants
answers.But ithink they have 2 choices
1-To clarify spiculation currently going on & the reason of hugarian justice failure. Or they
2-Made an inocent mistake by sending warning notice to azari government to extradite terrorist murderer in 1
month,or otherwise Hungary is going properly recogniseArtsakh Goernment rull versus &
on the bases of violation territorial integrity& constitution of independent hungary by perfoming to settle azari
terrorist agenda against an inocent person.life.
Alieve often speaks out azarbaijani turkish immaginary terrtorial integirty versus Artsakh armenian
existinghistorical
integrity, also Alieve wrongfully doule crossed in violation of territorial integrity of independentgreek Cypros
to endorse illegalyoccupied land to assist his expansionist seljuk causin turk
Armenians especialy Artsakh people know well the wounderful turkish barbarian history.just say Budapest
turkish terroristadventure must realise latest turkish wounder.
Alieve & his entourage must understand there is an outstanding justice waiting for them. & will pay the price
for there deeds.
Firstly,we must reconize a COMMON TRUTH.–The European Union,League of Nations are false organizations,of little or no consequence–ALL TALK,NO BITE.———-Secondly,the Armenians should clean up their own house,of all those oligarchs,thieves,crooked politicians,start working for a common cause,THE PEOPLE.—-I was told years ago by a very astute person;THAT ARMENIANS DONT HELP EACH OTHER,like the Jews do. So, a tiny nation is a threat to bigger cowards.
As a Coptic Christian, I am not suprised that Hungary covered the rear ends of Azerbaijan, after all they are both of Mongol Barbarian blood. Shame on Hungary, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and also, the Saudis/Salafis for racism.
dont worry we are getting them back in syria…assad is a great man.