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NATO AND HUNGARY NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SAFAROV'S CRIME - ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN
news.am
September 06, 2012 | 13:17
YEREVAN. - Azerbaijan's granting pardon to Ramil Safarov will not
contribute to peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday, while
addressing the students and faculty at Yerevan State University (YSU),
and in response to the question as to whether the NATO Secretary
General plans to apply certain sanctions upon Hungary and Azerbaijan.
As per Rasmussen, the brutal crime should not have been glorified
in Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan's decision to pardon will not contribute to peaceful
settlement of the [Nagorno-]Karabakh conflict and to the dialogue
between both countries. This is NATO's position. NATO is not
responsible for this crime, just as Hungary is not responsible for
this crime. I understand that Safarov's extradition to Azerbaijan
was carried out in compliance with international standards. But I'm
concerned by the decision to grant Safarov pardon in Azerbaijan,"
the NATO Secretary General noted.
To note, around 200-300 youth had held a demonstration Thursday,
in front of YSU Central Building, to protest NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen's visit to Armenia and YSU.
The young people held banners protesting Hungary's extradition of
Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan and his being pardoned there, Armenian
News-NEWS.am reporter informed from YSU.
Aside from banners, the young protesters also held Gurgen Margaryan's
picture as well as his killer, Ramil Safarov's photograph with a red
cross on it.
And upon NATO Secretary General's arrival at YSU, the youth chanted
"Justice!" while Anders Fogh Rasmussen saluted them and entered
the University.
While in Yerevan the NATO Secretary General will meet with President
Serzh Sargsyan, FM Edward Nalbandian, and Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan.
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.
news.am
September 06, 2012 | 13:17
YEREVAN. - Azerbaijan's granting pardon to Ramil Safarov will not
contribute to peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday, while
addressing the students and faculty at Yerevan State University (YSU),
and in response to the question as to whether the NATO Secretary
General plans to apply certain sanctions upon Hungary and Azerbaijan.
As per Rasmussen, the brutal crime should not have been glorified
in Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan's decision to pardon will not contribute to peaceful
settlement of the [Nagorno-]Karabakh conflict and to the dialogue
between both countries. This is NATO's position. NATO is not
responsible for this crime, just as Hungary is not responsible for
this crime. I understand that Safarov's extradition to Azerbaijan
was carried out in compliance with international standards. But I'm
concerned by the decision to grant Safarov pardon in Azerbaijan,"
the NATO Secretary General noted.
To note, around 200-300 youth had held a demonstration Thursday,
in front of YSU Central Building, to protest NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen's visit to Armenia and YSU.
The young people held banners protesting Hungary's extradition of
Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan and his being pardoned there, Armenian
News-NEWS.am reporter informed from YSU.
Aside from banners, the young protesters also held Gurgen Margaryan's
picture as well as his killer, Ramil Safarov's photograph with a red
cross on it.
And upon NATO Secretary General's arrival at YSU, the youth chanted
"Justice!" while Anders Fogh Rasmussen saluted them and entered
the University.
While in Yerevan the NATO Secretary General will meet with President
Serzh Sargsyan, FM Edward Nalbandian, and Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan.
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.