YEREVAN. – By releasing Ramil Safarov, Azerbaijan sent two messages to Armenia, Armenian Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation Director, political scientist Stepan Grigoryan stated during a press conference on Wednesday.      

In his words, first, it was said—and on the level of the country’s president—that those kill Armenians are heroes in Azerbaijan, and this is a security matter for Armenians. Second, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry granted Safarov the rank of army major and paid his eight-year salary, and thus it told Europe—and then to Armenia—that it does not care about all the decisions and the legal authorities. And this means Europe cannot be a restraining body for Azerbaijan in the case of a resumption of war.             

“I consider it meaningless to continue the [Nagorno-Karabakh peace] talks along the lines of the [OSCE] Minsk Group without [the existence] two conditions. First, a step must be attached to the three Madrid Principles, whereby Karabakh can no longer be under Azerbaijan’s administration. And the second step assumes for Armenia to receive an answer from all Minsk Group countries, not just from the Co-Chairs. These countries are Turkey, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Finland. [And] Sweden has already expressed his tough stance,” Stepan Grigoryan stressed.        

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.    

Photo by Sona Barseghyan