Azerbaijan lost any prospect of its being reliable partner - envoy

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hungary has a lot to do to make up for the release of convicted murderer Ramil Safarov, the Armenian Ambassador to Greece and Cyprus, Gagik Ghalatchian, has said, according to Cyprus Mail.

Worldwide, the Armenian community has been protesting the release of Safarov, an Azeri officer who hacked to death Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in Hungary back in 2004. The two men were attending a NATO-run English language course. Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary but was sent back to Azerbaijan where he was recently pardoned. On return to Azerbaijan Safarov was welcomed as a hero, pardoned, promoted to the rank of major, and paid wages for the eight years he was in jail.

“Hungary should apologize to the international community and Armenia and should undertake such measures that are equivalent to the slap received from Azerbaijan,” Ghalatchian said. “Otherwise, we will continue considering this unfriendly gesture towards Armenia was a deliberate and motivated action,” he said.

“We believe that with this act Azerbaijan once again, and this time ultimately, lost any prospect of its being a reliable partner in the eyes of the international community. We hope, and we are working [towards] that direction, that the international community finally stops the policy of false parity,” Ghalatchian said. He said that the international community, “the United Nations, OSCE, EU, Council of Europe, CSTO, NATO, the US., Russia, France and dozens of other countries and organizations responded to this incident and expressed their support to the Republic of Armenia.”

“But this is just the beginning of a process, he said. Armenia is also going to raise the issue legally in the “competent institutions” in relation to Azerbaijan and Hungary’s actions,” Chalatchian said.