THE FACTOR OF MAJOR SAFAROV

Safarov's return to his native Azerbaijan was awaited for 9 years. And finally, the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary for the murder of an Armenian officer, was extradited to his homeland. Immediately upon arrival at the Baku airport, Ramil was presented with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's decree to pardon him, and later Senior Lieutenant Safarov was awarded the rank of major of the armed forces of Azerbaijan and given his officer's salary accumulated over the years.

During military exercises in Hungary in 2004, Senior Lieutenant Ramil Safarov killed Gurgen Markaryan who had insulted the Azerbaijani flag. On 13 April 2006, a Budapest court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment, and on 31 August of this year, the Hungarian authorities handed over Safarov to Azerbaijan.

It was clear from the very beginning that Safarov's extradition would cause hysterical reaction in Armenia. This was expected in both Azerbaijan and Hungary. "The Hungarian government was aware that the extradition to Azerbaijan of the officer who had killed an Armenian officer would lead to a diplomatic scandal with Armenia," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters.

"This issue was dealt with by the entire government. Each ministry expressed its own opinion: the Ministry of Justice - on the legal aspect of the case and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - on the diplomatic consequences," the prime minister said.

And the consequences Hungary had anticipated were not long in coming. "I officially announce that today we are suspending all diplomatic and official ties with Hungary," Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said at an extraordinary meeting with heads of diplomatic missions and international organizations.

There were also threats against Azerbaijan. "Let them blame it on themselves," the Armenian president said in hysterics. On the same day, he ordered the army leadership to "put the troops on high alert". Sargsyan also gave the National Security Council of Armenia a special instruction the essence of which became clear after the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA made threats against Azerbaijani diplomats. But in Sargsyan's order to put the troops on high alert, his direct threats or ASALA's appeals, the OSCE Minsk Group did not see a threat to the fragile lull in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Instead, member countries of the Minsk Group saw negative things in the actions of Budapest and Baku, which, as it turned out, had not gone beyond the framework of international and national law. The spokesman for the US National Security Council, Tommy Vietor, said that Barack Obama was deeply concerned about the pardoning of Ramil Safarov.

"We inform the Azerbaijani authorities about our disappointment in the pardoning of Safarov. This decision is contrary to the ongoing efforts to reduce tensions in the region and promote reconciliation. The United States also requests an explanation from Hungary about the decision to hand over Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan," the representative of the United States said.

Paris also expressed concern about what is happening: "France, like other members of the OSCE Minsk Group, is deeply involved in the peaceful settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and believes that the decision can seriously harm efforts to negotiate and create a climate of confidence between the parties," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The view of the French counterparts was echoed by the Russian Foreign Ministry. "We believe that the actions of the Azerbaijani and Hungarian authorities run counter to efforts aimed at reducing tensions in the region agreed at the international level, particularly through the OSCE Minsk Group," the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation noted in a statement.

Now the plot thickens. Critics of Baku and Budapest have been joined by Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland and the European Parliament, which adopted a resolution condemning the extradition and pardoning of the Azerbaijani officer.

However, none of the condemning parties bothered to study the legal side of the issue to make it clear that Hungary and Azerbaijan acted within international law and national legislation.

According to the former UK Minister for Prisons and the Probation Service, MP Gerry Sutcliffe, Ramil Safarov was extradited in full compliance with the European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

He said that in recent years, Armenia has also pardoned a number of its citizens convicted of involvement in terrorist acts. "Of course, it is impossible not to draw attention to the fact that not a single Armenian, including the president of Armenia, has been prosecuted for the murder of thousands of Azerbaijanis in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict," Sutcliffe said.

As for the pardoning of Safarov, nobody has cancelled the right of the Azerbaijani president to pardon his citizens. And this right is sovereign. That is to say only voters can question the president about this. Any other criticisms and claims shall be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of the state. The White House, the Elysee Palace and the Kremlin are all aware of this.

Otherwise, just recently they could have demanded an explanation from the same Norway, where the killer of 77 innocent people was sentenced only to 21 years in prison and is held in a place that looks almost like a resort or a sanatorium. In an editorial in the previous issue of Region Plus, we mentioned that Anders Breivik will actually serve only three months for each dead person, if he is not amnestied "for good behaviour". Why doesn't Council of Europe Secretary General Jangland oppose the "glorification" of Breivik, who has all conditions in prison to work on his "Mein Kampf" and spread neo-fascist ideas?!

Meanwhile, since Safarov was pardoned, the press has published dozens of examples of how Armenian terrorists were pardoned by different countries despite the fact that they had committed more notorious crimes and killed many innocent people. Ekho newspaper cites at least 15 such examples. "And we do not remember any statement by the Council of Europe, the French Foreign Ministry, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the CSTO. It seems that in those years, no-one was worried that these 'precedents' could influence the resolution of the conflict, the situation in the region, and so on," a correspondent of the publication emphasizes.

And Safarov's deed should not to be confused with terrorist activities. Going to Budapest, Safarov did not intend to kill anyone and did not specially prepare for this. What should you do to make someone do this? Of course, we are far from justifying a murder. And the head of state did not acquit, but pardoned him in accordance with international law. Article 13 of the same Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons states that a convicted person can be pardoned by the state where he is extradited to serve his sentence.

All these objective circumstances only emphasize the inadequate reaction of some countries and organizations to the extradition and pardoning of the Azerbaijani officer, especially as Safarov served nine years for killing one person, not three months.

It would be better if the critics of Hungary and Azerbaijan expressed a more fundamental approach to the problem and pay more attention to the root causes of the current hostility between the two nations. Yes, the cause of tensions today is the factor of Safarov, but the reasons for what is happening are different. Those same countries and organizations have long recognized that the root of the current tensions is the Armenian occupation of one fifth of Azerbaijani territory and the continuation of Armenian claims to other neighbours.

"There are four UN Security Council resolutions. None of them has been implemented. The decisions of the OSCE Lisbon Summit and other resolutions - we all remember them. This issue was also discussed in the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international institutes, and the NATO summit in Chicago. The resolution of the conflict must be based on international law and the Helsinki Final Act. The Moscow declaration, signed by the president of Armenia, me and Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, also indicates that the conflict should be resolved on the basis of the decisions and resolutions of international organizations. These decisions and resolutions are unambiguous," President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting with the ambassadors of member countries of the OSCE.

The Azerbaijani head of state also said that due to the release of Safarov, Armenia is trying to raise a storm in a teacup and use the situation to disrupt the peace talks on Karabakh.

"After the last meeting in Kazan in June 2011, the talks have been stagnant. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have travelled to the region, but the main topic of our discussions now does not concerns the essence of the negotiation process, but aims to reduce tensions and the potential threat. For the first time since the creation of the OSCE Minsk Group, we are witnessing that the negotiation process has stalled," the president said. It should be noted that this is Aliyev's first statement that the negotiations on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict have stalled.

The president noted that the last package of proposals, which began from the Prague process and ended with the Madrid principles, was "probably the last proposal and the last chance for the settlement" and Azerbaijan did not refuse these proposals.

Today, in an attempt to prolong the status quo in the conflict zone, which was declared unacceptable by the leaders of the mediating countries, Armenia is trying to exaggerate the question of Safarov and disrupt the negotiations. On the other hand, Safarov's extradition to Azerbaijan clearly shook the already weak positions of Armenian diplomacy and thus the low rating of the Armenian authorities inside the country. Thus, Sargsyan is not in the best position ahead of the presidential elections. That's why the ruling team in Armenia is trying to derail the process of negotiations - first, to extend the status quo, i.e. the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, and second, to divert the attention of the Armenian public from their own problems.

FACTS SPEAK

In 1984, the US authorities released terrorist Gourgen Yanikian who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for assassinating Turkish diplomats.

In 1989, France released one of the leaders of ASALA, international terrorist Monte Melkonian, who organized the seizure of the Turkish embassy in Paris in September 1981.

In April 2001, France handed over to Armenia international terrorist Varoujan Garabedian, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for a terrorist attack at Orly airport, killing one US citizen, four Frenchmen and eight Turks and wounding 50 people. Although Garabedian was not an Armenian citizen, a decree to pardon him was signed by the Armenian leader before the terrorist's arrival at Yerevan airport.

In 1996, Arvid Mangasaryan, Gagik Arutyunyan, Garnik Arustamyan, who had been sentenced to long prison terms for the premeditated murder of journalist Salatin Asgarova and two Russian servicemen, were handed over to Yerevan. In Armenia, they were pardoned and released.

In 1971, a US court found Marine Corps Lieutenant Kelly guilty of murdering 22 people in the Vietnamese village of Songmi and sentenced him to life in prison. But three days later, the lieutenant was at home, not in prison. In 1974, he was pardoned by the US president.