The European Union (EU) calls upon the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan not to escalate the tension in bilateral ties, as a result of Ramil Safarov’s extradition to Azerbaijan, RIA Novosti News Agency of Russia reports, quoting EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton’s representative Maja Kocjancic.     

“We call upon Azerbaijan and Armenia to manifest restraint in [making] public statements, so they may refrain from any escalation [of tension] in this situation,” Kocjancic told reporters in Brussels.   

According to her, the EU is concerned over the possible consequences which this situation could have for the entire South Caucasus region.

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.