Budapest: Hungarian government's decision to repatriate Safarov was "painful" and "not easy"

• Thursday, September 13, 18:13

 Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi firmly rejects allegations that there had been any backdoor agreement concluded between Hungary and Azerbaijan. He said this would become apparent in the course of time, Hungarian media outlets report.

Martonyi, briefing the foreign affairs committee about repatriation of Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing an Armenian in Budapest in 2004, said Hungary "willingly or unwillingly" had got entangled in the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict on that date. The decision to transfer Ramil Safarov back to his home country, Azerbaijan, was a collective government one and all involved bear responsibility for it, he said. The Hungarian government's decision
to repatriate Safarov had been "painful" and "not easy", he said, referring to long-standing good relations with Armenia and its minority community living in Hungary. He said the Azeri authorities had made a clear commitment to continuing the murderer's prison sentence and the Hungarian government had taken its assurances at face value. "Complete proof is impossible," he said. Rather, cooperation works on the basis of good faith, he said, adding that
the Azeri side had reneged on the agreement.

The minister said the task now was to try to diffuse the strong emotions which have arisen since Safarov's release. All means must be used to ensure that tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia do not escalate, he said.