Hungary’s MFA doesn't confirm rumors on severing ties with Baku![]() September 5, 2012 - 17:23 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Hungary’s Foreign Ministry refused to confirm a report suggesting the official Budapest considers suspending diplomatic ties with any country, the Ministry press service told PanARMENIAN.Net As Mediamax agency reported earlier, citing a source at OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, Budapest saw suspending relations with Azerbaijan as an option to overcome the difficult situation that has aroused after Hungary’s decision to transfer the murderer of Armenian officer to Baku where he was immediately pardoned and glorified. As a Hungarian diplomat told his U.S. colleague over a working lunch, such a decision could become a symbolic message for recovering relations with Armenia. Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani army officer who was serving a life sentence in Hungary for axing to death Armenian Lt. Gurgen Margaryan, was extradited to Azerbaijan and pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Official Yerevan reacted by suspending diplomatic ties with Hungary. Hungary, however, states that it had sent Safarov back to Azerbaijan after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that Safarov's sentence, which included the possibility of parole after 25 years, would be enforced. ![]() Gurgen Margaryan On February 19, 2004, Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan, 26, was hacked to death, while asleep, by a fellow Azerbaijani participant, lieutenant Ramil Safarov, in Budapest during a three-month English language course in the framework of Partnership for Peace NATO-sponsored program. In accordance with Budapest District Court sentence dated April 13, 2006, Ramil Safarov was life imprisoned for murdering the Armenian officer. Partner news President Sahakyan stressed the combat readiness of Artsakh defense among key factors in the country’s security and state building. “The above mentioned NGOs’ participation in the forum is only possible as a part of Azerbaijani delegation,” ANP said. The military academy will be named after legendary commanders of Armenian origin Alexander Suvorov and Valerian Mandatov. French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Jacques Faure said the co-chairs are not planning a visit to Nagorno Karabakh. Partner news |