YEREVAN. – There is no need for a mediation to settle relations between Armenia and Hungary, Armenia’s MFA Press Secretary Tigran Balayan told Armenian News-NEWS.am, commenting on the news about a possible Swiss brokerage to normalize these ties.  

“I do not think there is a need for mediation here. What we need here are clear steps from the Hungarian authorities,” Balayan noted. 

To note, Hungarian FM János Martonyi had stated that his country accepted Switzerland’s offer to normalize the relations with Armenia. He noted that Hungary condemns Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s decision of granting pardon to Ramil Safarov.    

“The actions by the Azerbaijani side are unacceptable and they must be condemned. Azerbaijan has broken its promise and granted Safarov pardon, despite previous guarantees that he will continue to serve his sentence in Baku,” the Hungarian FM stated.

He also informed that, during his visit to Switzerland, the latter’s FM had offered to settle Hungary’s relations with Armenia. 

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.