Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ax Killer Pardon Reignites Caucasus War Fears In Oil-Rich Region

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Ax Killer Pardon Reignites Caucasus War Fears In Oil-Rich Region

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

    Bloomberg
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-04/ax-killer-pardon-reignites-caucasus-war-fears-in-oil-rich-region.html
    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]

Working...
X