ALIYEV FETES AXE MURDERER SAFAROV

September 5, 2012

Azerbaijani Lieutenant Ramil Safarov was attending a Nato “Partnership for Peace” training programme in Budapest, Hungry, in 2004, but peace was the last thing on his mind. Having procured an axe, he sneaked into the bedroom of a fellow delegate, Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan and hacked him to pieces. He later claimed to have taken offence at something the Armenian had said. Safarov received a 30-year prison sentence for his horrendous crime.

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan should have made sure that the cowardly and gruesome murder did not bring shame to his country. He should have condemned it unreservedly, apologised to Armenia and used the incident to try to draw a line under the impasse between the two nations. Instead, he gave Safarov a nod and a wink and cajoled Hungary to extradite him to Azerbaijan. Now that Safarov is back, he has showered him with honours, promoted him to Major, given him a flat and paid him arrears for time spent in prison. This is in the same league as the bizarre honouring of the brutal murderer Samir Kuntar by President Bashar Assad of Syria in 2008 and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran in 2009.

President Aliyev has disgraced himself by these actions, he has mocked diplomacy and he has let his people down. These are the kinds of insults wars are made of, and sure enough Armenia is taking the bait. President Sargsyan of Armenia is already sabre rattling from across the border:

"We don’t want a war but if we have to we will fight and win. We are not afraid of killers, even if they enjoy the protection of the head of state."

The tragedy is that Aliyev's exclusive club of presidential nitwits is not exclusive at all. Is this really the best humanity can do?



Torrance should have considered a job with Aliyev


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