YEREVAN. – “This is a good moment to work calmly and not to take drastic steps. In this situation the Armenian side should not take drastic steps, [and] make harsh statements that will run counter to the European Parliament’s resolution,” Armenian National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations former Chairman, opposition Armenian National Movement Party Board member Hovhannes Igityan told 168 Zham daily, speaking about Armenia’s next most likely courses of action following the European Parliament’s recently adopted resolution on the Ramil Safarov case. Igityan added:    

“[Taking] Revenge, giving equivalent counterblow to Azerbaijan, or other such drastic steps, should be ruled out. The Armenian side needs to take advantage [of the fact] that Europe placed Azerbaijan and Armenia on different platforms.  

In this situation, we ought to rotate the matter’s resolution in the direction that we want; this will prove that Armenia is a civilized and a democratic country, whereas Azerbaijan solely pretends to be such.”  

“According to him, Armenia must see to it that the EU-member countries—the world’s seriously playing states—likewise possess the view specified in that resolution,” 168 Zham writes. 

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.    

Ramil Safarov’s pardoning is condemned by virtually all international organizations.