Foreign Ministry of Armenia was informed about decision of Hungarian authorities 11 days before Ramil Safarov's extradition

The Armenian community of Hungary warned Foreign Ministry and Diaspora Ministry of Armeniaabout the intention of the Hungarian authorities to extradite Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan. The letter of the leaders of the Armenian National Self-government of Hungary to President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is evidence of it. The letter was signed by the chairman of the organization Dr. Sevan Sargsyan, deputy chairmen Alex Avanesyan and Hikogos Hakobyan, and placed at Facebook.

The letter says, in particular: "Mr.President! On behalf of the Armenian National Self-government (ANSG) of Hungary we would like to inform you that since 2004 - the year of Gurgen Margaryan's murder, ANSG has been taking all the efforts for the killer to swallow his medicine, that happened in 2006. Since opening of Azerbaijan's embassy in Hungary the organization has been always informing Armenia's Diaspora Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Armenia's Embassy in Austria about all the anti-Armenian steps taken by Azerbaijan's Embassy. We often replied to Armenia's Diaspora Ministry and Foreign Ministry for opening Armenia's Embassy in Hungary, as Armenia's embassy in Austria was responsible for four states. Meanwhile, conflicts in Hungary, linked with the
actions of Azerbaijan, were happening every day".

The authors of the letter emphasized that they got no reply from Armenia's Embassy in Austria, as because of a small-numbered staff they do not have an opportunity to permanently deal with occurring problems. 

On 20 August,i.e. 11 days 20 before Safarov's extradition, deputy chairman of ANSG, Nikogos Hakobyan, personally applied to Armenia's Diaspora Ministry and Foreign Ministry and Armenia's Embassy in Austria with information about the decision of the Hungarian authorities. He insisted on taking of extraordinary measures to prevent final decision of the Hungarian authorities.  However, unfortunately, all the efforts were in vain.

The authors of the letter demand to clear out, why no measures were taken after receiving the letter. "After 8 years of fight ANSG of Hungary understood that Azerbaijani lobby is so much strong that only diplomatic mediation of Armenia's Foreign Ministry was necessary to prevent the decision of Hungarian authorities. Meanwhile, the Armenian community of Hungary does not receive any support from Armenia's Embassy in Austria. For this reason, the
organization itself is going to express its protest to the government of Hungary", - the letter says.

To note, we have not yet managed to get validation of the given letter.

To recall, the scandal involving Hungary, Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out on Friday following Budapest's extradition of Ramil Safarov on August 31. Azeri officer Ramil Safarov was sentenced by a Hungarian court to life in jail for killing sleeping Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in Budapest in 2004. Both the officers were undergoing an English language course under the NATO PfP program. The same day after Safarov's extradition, Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev decreed to pardon the criminal and granted him a rank of Major. The same say the Armenian authorities adopted a decision to suspend diplomatic relations and official contacts with Hungary. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made public the decision at a special meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions on Friday after the Hungarian authorities extradited Safarov.

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Women emerge favourite to lead United Nations from next year, after straw-poll of UN Security Council members

Women emerge favourite to lead United Nations from next year, after straw-poll of UN Security Council members

​ Two women have emerged as favourite to lead the United Nations as Secretary-General from 1 January 2027, when the term of the present incumbent, Antonio Gutteres, expires. A straw poll of the members of the UN Security Council, held on Thursday, 30 July showed that of the seven candidates, Rebecca Grynspan of Costa Rica and Carolyn Rodriguez-Birkett of Guyana received ten and nine positive endorsements respectively, by the 15 members UN Security Council Although the poll and its result are supposed to be secret, the result leaked within minutes, and was carried on world media outlets, such as Reuters. The result was as follows   Michelle Bachelet 6 encourage 5  discourage   4 no opinion María Fernanda Espinosa 5 2 8 Rafael Grossi 7 2 6 Rebeca Grynspan 10 1 4 Olara Otunnu 2 5 8 Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett 9 2 4 Macky Sall 6 7 2   Article 97 of the UN Charter states that the “Secretary-General shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council”. Straw polls are informal ballots used to determine the viability of Secretary-General candidates.  The seven current candidates are: Michelle Bachelet Jeria (Chile), who was nominated by Brazil, Chile, and Mexico on 2 February, with Chile withdrawing its nomination on 24 March; María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Ecuador), who was nominated by Antigua and Barbuda on 11 May; Rafael Mariano Grossi (Argentina), who was nominated by Argentina on 26 November 2025; Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis (Costa Rica), who was nominated by Costa Rica on 3 March; Olara Otunnu (Uganda), who was nominated by Uganda on 24 July; Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett (Guyana), who was nominated by Guyana on 15 June; and Macky Sall (Senegal), who was nominated by Burundi on 2 March. At Thursday's straw poll, there was no difference between the ballots presented to the five permanent members (P5) and the ten elected members (E10). Council members received one ballot per candidate, containing the candidate’s name followed by three options: “encouraged”, “discouraged”, and “no opinion expressed”.   It is ofcourse early days, and the straw poll is just an informal indication of the mood of the UN Security Council, but the strong showwing by the two womencandidates may be an indication that for the first time, the head of the UN can be a women. (click image to read more) ​

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)