Leaked foreign affairs report of Budapest suggests Azeri president misled Hungary

A restricted document issued by the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (MKI), leaked by news website nol.hu on Friday, indicates that Hungarian authorities were misled by Azerbaijan in connection with the handover of the Azeri officer who killed an Armenian officer in Hungary eight years ago.

The document, according to nol.hu, stated that Prime Minister Viktor Orban had met Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the repatriation of the prisoner. The president had promised him that the life-sentenced Ramil Safarov would be kept behind bars. Safarov was pardoned and released on arrival to this homeland.  Hungary condemned the release in a diplomatic note two days later, but Armenia nevertheless suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary over the case.

The MKI report concluded that Hungary had been misled by the Azeri president, nol.hu reported, citing a copy of the document. It added that Hungary was surprised by Safarov's release and needed 24 hours to formulate an official government position on the matter. The report added that Azerbaijan had tried to give the false impression there had been an agreement with Hungary on Safarov's release.  "Azerbaijan is much more important to Hungary at the moment than vice versa,," the report said, adding that for this reason Budapest would not openly say that the Azeri president had misled Orban. 

The MKI suggested that Hungary should pursue a communcations strategy which made it plain that the release had been made without Hungary's consent. "We must speak of a misunderstanding," the report said.  The report said it was clear that relations between Hungary and Armenia would be icy for a period of time but it added that in the medium-term relations could be revived through hard work. 

The MKI's head Botond Zakonyi said the leaking of the document, which analysed the diplomatic situation, had been "unfortunate". The Institute, a government agency for foreign affairs, regularly issues such reports on key affairs of Hungarian diplomacy, he added.