YEREVAN. - Suspension of diplomatic ties with Hungary is not the goal by itself and Budapest should realize it, ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) group secretary Hovhannes Sahakyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. His comments came after Hungarian foreign office sent a diplomatic note to the Armenian MFA.

“We may welcome the step by Hungary, however, the Hungarian people and more important the Government should realize that [dealing with Azerbaijan] they had dealt with a state which not only lacks European but also universal values. Hungary should have known it deals with barbarians, honoring a murderer,” Sahakyan said, recalling how Azeri killer Safarov became a hero in Azerbaijan upon returning from Hungarian prison.

To note, Hungary wants to restore relations with Armenia without preconditions.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Azeri killer 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.

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.

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.