Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian took his time at the General Debate of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly, to once again draw attention of the international community to the pre-term release Azerbaijani axe-murderer Ramil Safarov and his glorification by the official Baku.
Nalbandian started out by saying, that international organizations have “alerted about flagrant cases of xenophobia, racism, intolerance and violations of human rights in Azerbaijan, alerted on the policy of hatred against Armenians.”
He then went on to illustrate the point.
“The latest such case is the Azeri government’s release and glorification of the murderer Safarov, who had slaughtered with an axe an Armenian officer in his sleep, during a NATO program in Budapest simply because he was an Armenian,” the Foreign minister said. “The Azerbaijani leadership made him a symbol of national pride and an example to follow by youth,” he added.
Nalbandian also spoke about the reaction from the international community, which is that of “unanimous and very clear” condemnation of what was done by Baku.
Speaking of Baku’s claims, that Safarov’s release was done in accordance to the international law, Nalbandian made a killing remark: “It is clear that international community should not tolerate the attempts of the Azerbaijani leadership to adjust the international law to their own racist ideology. Having a rich internal experience in corruption Baku is attempting to transfer it to interstate relations exploiting it as a tool to impose its own misperceptions on others. The international community could not tolerate the attempts of Azerbaijan to replace the rule of law with the rule of oil.”
He also added, that Safarov’s affair has “seriously undermined” the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process and stressed, that while “Armenia and the international community are speaking in one language regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,” Azerbaijan is rejecting the proposals of the three Co-Chair countries, multiplying its military budget, continuing the blockade of Armenia and more.
Nalbandian’s speech was of course also a response to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s speech made at the UN General Assembly a couple of days ago, where he avoided speaking of Safarov’s issue but made a remark, which was so impudent in the face of international community’s criticism of his own country’s recent “accomplishments,” that almost laughed.
“The situation is further complicated by Armenia’s irresponsible and unacceptable behavior in the overly sensitive domain of justice and reconciliation,” Mamedyarov said and added, “Perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of genocide against Azerbaijani people, not only remain unpunished, they are even promoted, venerated and officially awarded hero titles in Armenia. Schools, universities and streets are named after them, and monuments erected to them. War criminals, who do not even hide the proud of their role in mass killing of Azerbaijani civilians, are reincarnated as highly positioned politicians, military commanders and public figures.”
PS: I know that my blog’s ethics code says I should be balanced, etc. But Mamedyarov’s speech the other day made me want to scream – WTF! Comparing Monte, Vazgen and other heroes to Safarov, whose courage is barely enough to kill a sleeping man with an axe?
Artur Papyan
Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant