Those who hoped on peaceful solution of long- lasting conflict Between Armenia and Azerbaijan are sure to have had a gloomy week, writes Thomas de Vaal, chief expert of “Carnegie fund of international peace”. Azerbaijani president took a provoking step gifting pardon to Azerbaijani officer who was sentenced to life imprisonment for axing an Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in 2004 during NATO trainings in Hungary.
De Vaal writes that this murder on ethnic grounds caused burst of emotions both in Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2004. The murderer was a hero for some Azerbaijani parliamentarians, but other Azerbaijani people were ashamed of Safarov’s deed. In Armenia Gurgen Margaryan’s funeral became a state-wide important event. But after 8 years the picture is different. Because of unknown reasons Hungarian government extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan according to the convention signed by both of them, according to which the detained person can bear his punishment in his motherland and acquire right to be free after 25 years of the sentence. But Safarov was not only freed immediately in Azerbaijan, but also was given an apartment in Baku and was promoted to the rank of mayor.
This event caused dissatisfaction of both the US government and Russian FM towards Azerbaijan. What about Armenia, it caused Yerevan to reach the peak of its patience. Armenian authorities are announcing all the time that they are not satisfied by the development of peaceful process. Moreover, in June Armenia directly inquired from Hillary Clinton why the USA ignores the violations of truce by Azerbaijan. Now Armenia has one more cause to refuse to take part in negotiations. Some Armenian commentators even claim the independence of Artskakh. There are even talks of revenge among extremists. Thus, the actions of Azerbaijani government are not mere mistakes, De Vaal writes.
To present their country as a developing and modern one, Azerbaijan joined the UNO security council, organized the Eurovision song contest. But welcoming the murderer as a hero hit the image of the country. The two parties gained only radical elements, – analyses De Vaal. Armenians gained another reason not to trust the Azerbaijani, and the efforts of minority of the latter that was trying to improve relations with Armenia failed.
The only positive fact in this is that universal public will pay more attention to the threat of new conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This conflict is not so far away unless immediate measures are taken, – concluded De Vaal.
