Rustam Jamilov
CEU Business School Alumnus, 2011
Baku, Azerbaijan. September 7, 2012
It must be puzzling to observe the recent Armenian reaction in response to the extradition and pardoning of Ramil Safarov. Safarov, an Azerbaijani national, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his 2004 murder of Gurgen Margaryan, an Armenian citizen, after the victim insulted Safarov, his ethnicity, his country, and his flag. Safarov, on mutual occasions, has acknowledged his wrongdoing and accepted the punishment. Earlier this month, following an 8-year spell in jail, Safarov has been extradited by the Hungarian authorities and later pardoned by the President of Azerbaijan. The acts of extradition and pardoning have later been proven to be fully legal, according to Article 12 of the 1983’ Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. Armenia’s complete failure to accept the legality of this event is really quite bizarre. In addition, the international hysteria that Erevan has artificially created is deeply disturbing: Armenia has suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary, spent considerable money on producing Hungarian flags only to distribute them domestically and allow its people to burn them, and encouraged other nations in an absurd fashion to follow suit and tighten relations with such a historically important Eurozone country as Hungary.
Armenia seems to have a remarkably short-term memory span, as there are numerous occasions on which murderers and terrorists of Armenian descent have been pardoned despite committing truly astonishing acts of terror. We all remember the controversial pardoning of internationally recognized Armenian terrorists such as S. Teyleryan (Ethnic assault and murder. Berlin, Germany, 1921), M. Torlakyan (Ethnic terrorism. United Kingdom, 1921), G. Yanikyan (Ethnic terrorism. Los Angeles, USA, 1984), M. Melkonyan (Terrorist act at the Turkish embassy in Paris. France, 1989), V. Garabedian (Bombed the Turkish Airlines check-in counter. France, 2001), S. Ohanyan (Khojaly Massacre coordinator. Khojaly, Azerbaijan, 1992). Moreover, not only were all these terrorists pardoned, but historically Armenia has been greeting its terrorists as heroes, granting them military ranks, and enriching with money and gifts. In particular, mass-terrorist Garabedian was greeted by the Armenian president Serj Sargsyan as a “national hero” and was given a rank of Colonel. And the mastermind of the 1992 Khojaly Genocide, where 613 Azerbaijani civilians were massacred, - Seyran Ohanyan - is currently the Armenian Minister of Defense.
Armenia has always been known for its continuous illegal occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani territories, known for one of the worst acts against humanity in face of the Khojaly Genocide, and for its reoccurring bursts of ethnic terrorist activities. But now, the long-term path that Armenia has chosen for its future policy has lowered it in the eyes of the international community to a whole new level. On September 3, 2012, the ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia) terrorist organization has officially promised that it will locate, target, and exterminate Azerbaijani diplomats in Hungary and elsewhere. In a horrifying email that they sent to the Azerbaijani consulate in Budapest, they promised to “drown Azerbaijanis in blood” and to increase Azerbaijani corpses “just like the ones they left rotting in Khojaly”. To expect these horrifying words, which were said with such honor and pride, in the age of supposedly civilized societies, leaves little hope that terrorism will ever be beaten.
The mere fact of existence of ASALA - an officially established terrorist group whose sole purpose for existence is organized murder and terror - is not as disturbing as the fact that Armenia is, in fact, supporting it on financial, administrative, and socio-political levels. The idea that Armenia is governing a terrorist organization is a non-repairable blow to the status of Armenia as a democratic, peaceful, or civilized society. Armenia has always been viewed as an antagonist, regional de-stabilizer, and expansionist aggressor. But it has never been officially perceived as a terrorist-sponsoring state. While Armenia is comfortably on its downward-sloped road to terrorism, our hearts belong to Azerbaijani diplomats and their families.
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