Two Steps Backwards in the Caucasus

Peter Rutland

 

In recent days there have been two symbolic events that run the danger of igniting hostilities in an already tense neighborhood of the Caucasus. On Aug. 31 a former Azerbaijan Army lieutenant, Ramil Safarov, flew back to Baku after serving eight years in a Budapest jail for killing Gurgen Margarian in 2004. The victim, an Armenian officer, had been a fellow participant in a NATO Partnership for Peace exercise. Safarov hacked him to death in his sleep with an ax.

The Hungarian government transferred the prisoner to Azerbaijan on the understanding that he would serve out the rest of his life sentence in his home country. But immediately upon his arrival in Baku, Lieutenant Safarov was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev, restored to military duties, promoted to major, given an apartment and awarded back pay for his time in prison. These actions drew universal condemnation from Washington, Moscow and European governments.

Apart from the fact that such a step is an affront to basic notions of justice and the rule of law, even more troubling is the message that it sends to the rest of the world: that the Azerbaijani government thinks it is acceptable to kill Armenians. Apparently, the grievances they suffered in their defeat by Armenian forces in 1992-94 are so profound that even murder is excusable. It is hard, then, to ask the Armenians living in Karabakh to quietly accept the idea that the solution to their disputed territory is for them to return to living under Azerbaijani rule.

The Safarov Affair and the Hungarian Version

On Friday, September 14, Sarkis Assadourian, former member of the Canadian Parliament (1993-2004) and former Citizenship Judge of Canada (2005-2008), met in Ottawa with the Ambassador of Hungary in Canada, Laszlo Pordany. In a note to "Loussapatz" weekly (September 22, 2012), Assadourian remarked: "The discussion lasted 45 minutes. In private conversation, we discussed the current situation between Armenia and Hungary. The Ambassador was very forthcoming and honest in his assessment of the events. I would like to thank him and share his point of view with you. I am sure you will appreciate his insight." Here is the text of the Hungarian Ambassador's letter:

Quien pone la plata elige la música

Garabed Arakelián

Una aparentemente inofensiva promesa de compra de bonos solidarios es lo que ofertó Azerbaiján a Hungría, junto con otras inversiones, por un monto de dos mil a tres mil millones de euros, según datos que manejan la prensa y la oposición húngara, y eso es lo que se ha instalado como telón de fondo de una transacción que tiene visos de no ser solamente financiera, sino que ampara una burda maniobra en detrimento de la justicia y los derechos humanos, de la que aparece como responsable, y probable víctima de un engaño muy elemental, el gobierno de Budapest. 

To Turn Today's Defeat into a Permanent Victory

Hagop Avedikian

Translated by Vartan Matiossian

 

Monte Melkonian was three times right when in one of the most hot days of the struggle for the liberation of Karabagh complained by phone to the then president of the Committee of Self-Defense of Karabagh, Serge Sargsian, that his combatants had abandoned the positions to go to the burial of one of their dead comrades. «Ասոնք էշ են, է՛շ» ("These are asses, asses"), he said. And when Serge Sargsian asked him why the Azerbaijanis did not advance and occupy our positions, the incomparable Avo [M. Melkonian's nom de guerre] had "explained": «Անոնք ա՛լ ավելի էշշ են» ("Those are even bigger asses")...

Armenia suspende relaciones diplomaticas con Hungria tras una polemica extradicion

La posición asumida por Armenia ante la extradición del criminal azerbaiyano condenado por Hungria y su inmediato perdón por el presidente de Azerbaiyán explicita el doble juego de la comunidad internacional en la compleja relación entre los intereses materiales y los deberes morales. Es una postura inevitable tras una derrota diplomática (compárese con el retorno del embajador turco a Ankara tras la inicial aprobación de la ley francesa sobre el genocidio armenio en 2011); queda por analizar cómo se confió en las promesas húngaras frente a las presiones azerbaiyanas. Dicho sea de paso, es de esperar que tales posiciones en el plano internacional frente a semejante ilegalidad tengan su correlato en el frente interno para prevenir que casos de flagrante ilegalidad se repitan en Armenia o queden impunes.

Armenia Suspends Relations With Hungary Following Extradition and Pardon of Azeri Criminal

The official reaction of Armenia to the extradition by Hungary of an Azerbaijani criminal condemned to life prison and subsequent pardon of the President of Azerbaijan is the unavoidable follow-up to a diplomatic defeat against the double standards showed by the international community in the interplay between material interests and moral responsibilities. Similar actions to repeal criminal attitudes are also needed to prevent intolerable legal charades within the frontiers of Armenia.