Azerbaijan's PR work to promote the image of a new, modernizing, dynamic country now has to contend with a contrary image of the government welcoming home an axe-murderer: expert

This is a black week for those who are seeking a peaceful settlement of the long-running Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Thomas de Waal, senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, says in his BBC article concerning Ramil Safarov, an Azeri officer sentenced by a Hungarian court to life in jail for brutally killing an Armenian in Budapest in 2004 but recently extradited to his home country and pardoned by the local authorities.

"Over the past few years, the government in Baku has spent tens of millions of dollars of its new oil revenues promoting the image of Azerbaijan as a new, modernizing, dynamic country. The effect has been quite successful, with results ranging from Azerbaijan joining the UN Security Council to Baku hosting feel-good events such as the Eurovision Song Contest. All that PR work now has to contend with a contrary image, of the government welcoming home an axe-murderer," de Waal says, adding that the events of this week are a big boost for radicals on both sides and strengthen the hands of those Armenian hardliners who say that this proves that Azerbaijanis are barbarians who cannot be trusted.

The expert continues that if there is any silver lining to this dark episode it could be that the international community pays more attention to the dangers of a new Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. "The conflict is not "frozen," as it is frequently described. The current format of quiet mediation by France, Russia and the US is not strong enough to move the two sides from their intransigent positions.  The reception given Safarov suggests that the situation is moving closer to war than peace. This slide can be halted, but the time to start working harder on diplomacy is now," de Waal says.