Armenian parliamentarian bewildered at activity of heads of Armenian representations in abroad

• Wednesday, September 5, 15:22

 The Government of Hungary represented by Prime Minister Viktor Orban with his eccentric behavior has already annoyed the European community, Vahan Hovhannisyan, MP representing ARFD Party, said at the extraordinary session of the Armenian Parliament on Wednesday, when commenting on ARFD's stance on the draft statement of the Armenian National Assembly on Ramil Safarov's case.

Both the attempts to make amendments not meeting European values to the Constitution and the migration processes are in question, he said. Hungary's neighbors, Serbia and Slovakia, have already got tired of the constant protests to European structures against Budapest's actions. Even Prime Minister Orban is qualified in Europe as a dictator. Naturally, by his methods of governance and actions Viktor Orban  is quite similar to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, which should not be surprising for Yerevan.  It is noteworthy that the so-called reform conducted in Hungary led to EU sanctions
against Budapest, which, in turn, resulted in a financial crisis. To overcome it, Hungary needed Azerbaijan's assistance. Nevertheless, even the countries that have got bored with the Government of Hungary failed to support Armenia. Romania, Slovakia and Serbia are in question, he said.

The parliamentarian explained that Armenia as a subject is not interesting to any country. Only the U.S.  President expressed discontent at the incident. Official Yerevan should learn something from all this and be cautious. For instance, Hovhannisyan said, the German press has misinterpreted the Armenian president's statement and arrived at a conclusion that Armenia threatens Azerbaijan with war. All this means that Yerevan must tackle the work with the
European and other press.  In this light, the parliamentarian expressed bewilderment at activity of the heads of Armenians representations in abroad, who must work not only with the press but also with parliamentarians, including the German parliamentarians.

He is concerned over the stance of many countries and international structures that again placed Armenia and Azerbaijan on the same shelf and called them to stop militarist statements and not aggravate the situation. It is very important to mention that fact in the text of the statement, Vahan Hovhannisyan said.  "I do not mean Aliyev, who we must speak with in quite different field. I mean European structures," the parliamentarian said. The text of the statement must contain also a provision on the stance of the OSCE MG, he said.

Earlier on August 31 the Armenian authorities adopted a decision to suspend diplomatic relations and official contacts with Hungary.  President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made public the decision at a special meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions on Friday after the Hungarian authorities extradited Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced by a Hungarian court to life in jail for killing sleeping Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in Budapest in 2004. Both the officers were undergoing an English language course under the NATO PfP program. The same day after Safarov's extradition,
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev decreed to pardon the criminal.