February 17, 2006 - 16:08 AMT
Declaration of Safarov Man of Year - Bad Signal for Armenian People
Armenia regrets over the declaration of Ramil Safarov the Man of the Year, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian stated during today's press conference in Yerevan. This move is the evidence of the ongoing anti-Armenian policy and it's a bad sign for the Armenian people. Azerbaijan is following the wrong way and moves of the kind do not contribute to the creation of favorable basis for the settlement Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Mutual trust, which is essential for achieving progress, is absent in the relations between the two nations.

It should be noted that the National Democratic Party of Azerbaijan declared Azeri officer Ramil Safarov the man if the Year.

To remind, February 19, 2004 Armenian Armed Forces lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, who was taking an English course within NATO Partnership for Peace program was brutally hacked to death by Azeri officer Ramil Safarov. The latter was accused with Article 116.2 of the Hungarian Criminal Code, which provides for a punishment of 10-15 years of deprivation of liberty or life imprisonment.