WASHINGTON—State Department sources confirmed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton relayed the U.S. Government’s “strong disappointment” over Hungary’s extradition of convicted Azerbaijani axe-murderer Ramil Safarov during a state visit by Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi to Washington, DC this week.
In response to a question by H1 Armenian Television Washington DC correspondent Haykaram Nahapetyan, a State Department Spokesperson noted that, “Secretary Clinton reiterated our strong disappointment that Hungary transferred convicted murderer Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan, where he was immediately pardoned. This decision was harmful to the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and to trust between the sides.”
“We welcome Secretary Clinton’s continued efforts to impress upon Hungary’s leaders how their reckless release and transfer of unrepentant axe-murder Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan has undermined the peace process,” commented ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “In the interest of peace, we encourage the Secretary to translate her words of criticism – toward both Hungary and Azerbaijan – into reality by putting in place a ban on U.S. arms sale to Baku and ending all military aid to the Azerbaijani armed forces.”
The U.S. was among the first to express concern about Hungary’s extradition and President Ilham Aliyev’s subsequent pardon, promotion and praise for Azerbaijani army lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who was convicted of brutally axing to death Armenian soldier Gurgen Margaryan in his sleep, during a 2004 NATO English-language training course. In a statement issued by the White House in the name of National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor, underscoring the President’s view that, “This action is contrary to ongoing efforts to reduce regional tensions and promote reconciliation.” Vietor went on to note that, “The United States is also requesting an explanation from Hungary regarding its decision to transfer Safarov to Azerbaijan.”
The Department of State, through a formal announcement issued by Acting Deputy Spokesman Patrick Ventrell, also took a stand against Hungary’s extradition and Azerbaijan’s pardon, explaining that: “The United States is extremely troubled by the news that the President of Azerbaijan pardoned Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov, who returned to Baku today following his transfer from Hungary. . . . We are expressing our deep concern to Azerbaijan regarding this action and seeking an explanation. We are also seeking further details from Hungary regarding the decision to transfer Mr. Safarov to Azerbaijan.”
During the Center for European Policy Analysis’ U.S.-Central Europe Strategy Forum on September 20, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told RFE/RL that Washington continues to express “dismay and disappointment” to Budapest about its decision to release Ramil Safarov to Baku. “We were appalled by the glorification that we heard in some quarters of somebody who was convicted of murder,” Gordon said. He called the case “a real provocation in the region.”
Members of Congress who have condemned Azerbaijan’s release of Safarov to date include, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Boxer, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Ed Royce (R-Calif.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Democrat Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Representatives David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), Robert Dold (R-Ill.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Brad Sherman (D-Calif.).
A complete list of statements by U.S. leaders condemning the Safarov release is available at: http://www.anca.org/safarov
Hungary Knew Consequences of Safarov Release
Worldwide suspicions that the Hungarian Government knew full well of Azerbaijan’s intention to pardon Safarov were confirmed soon after the axe-murderer’s extradition. Reuters reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated, “The foreign ministry had forecast precisely what types of consequences this or the other decision [extradition or non-extradition] may have. Nothing happened after our decision that we would not have reckoned with in advance.”
Orban’s statements came as speculation continued about the connection between Safarov’s extradition and talks between the Orban Administration and Aliyev regarding a possible Azerbaijani buy-out of Hungarian loans valued over $2-3 Billion Euros. International financial news outlets reported the possible deal just days prior to the August 31st release of Safarov.
The Hungarian opposition condemned Prime Minister Orban’s actions as ‘morally bankrupt,’ and called for his resignation. Thousands of Hungarians protested the Orban decision during demonstrations in Budapest just days after the August 31st extradition of Safarov.
Despite international criticism from the U.S., France, Russia, and NATO, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev remains defiant about his decision to pardon, promote and financially reward axe-murderer Ramil Safarov for the ethnically motivated murder of Lt. Gurgen Margaryan. Safarov’s repatriation “was carried out in accordance with European conventions, and his release in accordance with Azerbaijan’s constitution,” Reuters quoted Aliyev as stating during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
And what happens next after all is said and all kinds of “strong disappointments” are expressed? The US government recognizes Artsakh’s independence or keeps their promise to recognize the Armenian genocide or suspends humanitarian aid to AzerBEYjan? What’s next? Another charade of words? What happened after the Azeris savagely destroyed ancient Armenian cross-stones in Nakhichevan? What happened after dozens of Armenian soldiers died of sniper bullets in the line of contact? Is this all the mightiest power in the world can do? Blab-blab?
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Martonyi’s mustache, is very similar to Envar Pasha’s mustache!!
and Denialist Sec State Clinton looks very similar to Death warmed over: with or without moustache.
now I understand about Bill and Monica: what are you gonna do, you know ?
Don’t believe in this woman (Clinton), she is lying. She never supported Armenians and will never do, what a hypocrite!
Let me get this straight. She is dimayed at the glorification of 1 murderer in Azerbaijan, but not so with an avowed murderer who is the president of ARmenia (what could be more glorifying than electing someone the president of your country). Yes, Sarkissian is a murderer. With an interview with Thomas De Waal, he admitted direct involvement in the Khodjali massacre of Azeri citizen. You cannot deny it. Your very own president admitted it. Hypocrasy! So the west has no credibility in Azerbaijan. They let be the plight of a million Azeri refugees, and get obsessed over 1 guy Safarov.
Kerim,
Let me get it straight. Does the Artsakh issue start with the Khohali event in which the Azeris intentionally disregarded the safe passage offered by the Armenians and became victims of shelling or it starts with the Azeri savagery in Sumgait, Kirovabad, Baku and Maragha? Do Azeris have any sense of chronology or for you the time begins only when your people are killed? If you think Sargsyan is a murderer, then crowds of Azeri barbarians killing, raping and burning Armenians alive in Sumgait are who? Based on your Azeri logic, criminals buried in Baku’s Alley of “Shahids” who were killed as a result of killings and other atrocities against the Armenians of Baku are who? It is so low to notice a blemish in other nation’s deeds and disregard the savagery of your own, don’t you think?
ARx, you shamelessly talk of chronology … So you asked for it … Speaking of timing, the whole thing started when Armenians delcared that “all” they wanted was to take Karabak from Azerbaijan and give it to Armenia. And you are kidding yourself if you think that it was just a declaration. People who delcare something grave like that take actions to implement it. It is common sense. And what did they do with implementation? Get rid of all the Azeri-populated areas within Karabak proper, for it would have been very “problematic” to unite with Armenia when 25% of your population in the area were Azeri. Ss, please have the courage to admit the obvious: you started it. Whether or not, you were justified in starting it, that is a different topic. The topic at hand rather is, who started it. And the answer is clear: You.
And it is really disgusting how you Armenians try to re-write history regarding the January 20 tragedy in Baku, making those innocent victims to serve “as proofs” that there were rampant pogroms and killings that Soviet army came to quell. Nothing could be further from truth. I was there. The soviet troops came to quell the Azeri independence movement, just as they did in Tbilisi and Baltics. In Sumgait, yet, unfortunately there were some pogroms (but not nearly as wide-spread you guys make it out to be), but Baku? No way. I was there. There were counter-demonstrations against giving Karabak to Armenia, but no pogroms. So please do not BS sitting in your sunny CA or wherever.
Now, about Khodjali … Let me try this with you. The Armenian deaths in 1915 were the fault of Armenians themselves because they ignored the offer of Turkish troops to peacefully march into Syria. How does it feel for you to hear this? What makes different your statement that the Azeri Khodjali death was actually our own fault? How? Even at best you are speculating about the existence of there ever being a warning to Azeris to evacuate, that is all. But it is a fact that scores of civilians were slaughtered there by Armenians. And your president Sarkissian admitted it, period, case closed. And also, just think about it, you imply that it is ok to give someone an ultimatum to “take a safe passage” out of your ancestral homes so that you can come and take over. And if they don’t … then you are justified in scalping them alive, right?
So, yes, it was wrong to acquit Safarov. But it is much wronger to appoint Sarkissian the president of your nation.
No, Kerim, you shamelessly err about chronology and timing. The whole thing started when historically Armenian provinces of Artsakh and Nakhichevan were given to you, Caucasian Tartars called Azerbaijanis starting from 1918, by Stalin in the 1920s. The whole thing continued during the Soviet rule, when Armenians in Nakhichevan constituting 52% of the population went to virtually 0% and Armenians of Artsakh, constituting more than 90% went down to 73%. This is what the placement of Armenian lands under the Azerbaijani rule has resulted. Don’t believe me? Check the population statistics of the NKAO and the Nakhichevan ASSR during the Soviet regime.
In 1988, the Armenians didn’t start the killings. Azeri Tartars did. Armenians peacefully appealed to the USSR Supreme Soviet using their constitutional right for transfer of a territory from one republic to the other. Whether you call it “grave” or not, doesn’t matter: it was CONSTITUTIONAL. And yes, it was just a declaration. No killings, mass rapes, forcible deportations against the 22% of the Azeri population were reported at the time. Armenians have started the constitutional process of transferring a historical Armenian province from one Soviet republic to another by PEACEFUL means. The topic is who started the savage killings, mass rapes, mutilations, and burning people alive. And the answer is: YOU, Azeri Tartars.
Re-writing history, huh? You, Azeri Tartars are unsurpassedin that. Inventing history for your never-before existed nation, stealing from ancient Caucasian Albanians, Armenians, Persians. Even the ethnonym Azerbaijanis is derived from an ancient Persian province of “Azarbaijan”, called “Atrpatakan” in Armenian. Up until 1918 you were known as Caucasian Tartars or simply Muslims, now you talk history with Armenians, one of the most ancient peoples inhabiting the Earth? What can be more pathetic?
Soviet troops entered Baku when pogroms against the Armenians evolved into calls for independence, but it doesn’t mean that first there were no anti-Armenian pogroms. If there were no pogroms and killings, where are the 200,000 Armenians of Baku? Were they not forcibly deported, were their lives not threatened by the Azeris? Are you fooling yourself or trying to fool us, Armenians, who became victims of your savagery? The Soviet troops’ quelling the Azeri independence movement was not the same as in Georgia or the Baltics. Neither in Georgia nor in the Baltic republics there were pogroms and killings directed at their ethnic minorities. It was only in Azerbaijan where calls for independence followed atrocities against the republic’s Armenian population.
Th-a-a-a-nk you for admitting that In Sumgait there were “unfortunately some(!) pogroms”. But, no, they WERE wide-spread, and not just pogroms, but outright barbaric bacchanalia. Hundreds of innocent people were thrown from balconies, slaughtered in their apartments, raped and burned alive on the squares. Mothers with new-born children would be tied up to busses and dragged for miles. Women’s breasts and men’s genitals were cut off. Young Russian soldiers, who belatedly arrived in Sumgait, would faint when they saw the savagery of the Azeris. If you call it “some pogroms”, then go look into the mirror to make sure you’re a human being. These barbaric methods were no different from those of your ethnic cousins, the Turks, used against the Armenians back in 1894-96 and 1915-1923. No wonder Armenians call both the Azeris and the Turks, Turks.
Bo pogroms in Baku? Then I guess, 200,000+ Armenians of Baku have just agreed at the same time to leave their apartment, personal belongings, and bank accounts and travel to Turkmenistan, Russia, and Armenia. I was in the Zvartnots airport when those people were arriving: beaten, emasculated, wounded, and mutilated. Azeris would extinguish cigarettes on the hands and the faces of old women, I’ve seen the wounds. Are you telling us, the ones who suffered in the hands of your barbaric co-tribesmen, fairy tales?
Whatever you bloviate about Khodjali, remember this. The unfortunate killing of civilians there happened as a result of crossfire during a war after a warning. That the Azeri troops used civilians as shield and failed to use the safecorridor left bu the Armenians, is the demonstration of either Azeri stupidity or a deliberate provocation. Compare, if you can, the Khodjali war incident with killings of unprotected civilians during the peacetime in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku. Compare Khodjali with the killing of a sleeping person. Finally, answer for yourself in all truthfulness: who started the killings of innocent people? Not the peaceful call for self-determination, but killings. Who started them?
{And it is really disgusting how you Armenians try to re-write history regarding the January 20 tragedy in Baku, making those innocent victims to serve “as proofs” that there were rampant pogroms and killings that Soviet army came to quell. Nothing could be further from truth. I was there. The soviet troops came to quell the Azeri independence movement, just as they did in Tbilisi and Baltics.} writes Kerim, claiming to have been in Baku at the time.
Let us see: apparently since AzeriTatarTurks like to invoke De Waal re RoA Pres Sargsian, then they must believe that what De Waal writes is true history.
Yes ?
Excerpt from the book Black Garden by De Waal regarding Baku, Page 90.
{The next day, 12 January, murderous anti-Armenian violence overwhelmed Baku. A vast crowd filled Lenin Square for a rally, and by early evening men had broken away from it to attack Armenians. As in Sumgait, the savagery was appalling and the center of the city around the Armenian quarter became a killing ground. People were thrown to their deaths from the balconies of upper-story apartments. Crowds set upon and beat Armenians to death. Thousands of terrified Armenians took shelter in police stations or in the vast Shafag Cinema, under the protection of troops. ……
Around ninety Armenians died in the Baku pogroms. It is hard to verify the death toll because yet more chaos was to descend on Baku within days and no official investigation was ever launched…..Certainly, the casualties would have been much higher if the authorities had not staged an operation to evacuate the Armenians} pg90.
(BTW: the myth that Soviet troops landed in Baku on January 20, 1990 to put down a supposed Axeri independence movement has been inculcated into Axerbaijan’s population to cover up the massacre of Armenians in Baku by Axeri savages: apparently the brainwashing has worked magnificently at least in one case)
You are spewing out the old boring Armenian propaganda lies. Please wake up. There is now real scientific evidence disproving, conclusively and once for all, the idea that the ancestors of modern Azeris do not belong in Caucasus. As one research, read this article published in “Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Variation in the Caucasus”. It was not published in some Armenian book, but in a prestigious English scientific journal (Annals of Human Genomics).
http://www.familytreedna.com/pdf/caucasus.pdf
Here is a quote: “The genetic relationships among Caucasus groups reflected geographic rather than linguistic relationships. In particular, Caucasus groups speaking non-Caucasian languages (i.e., Indo-European speaking Armenians and Turkic speaking Azerbaijanis) grouped with their geographic neighbors in the Caucasus, and not with their linguistic neighbors elsewhere (i.e., other Indo-European or Turkic groups, respectively).”
So, please stop insulting your own intelligence by telling self-serving lies. By the way, combining the Azeris in Iran, there are over 25 million Azeris in the region, compared to 3 million Armenians. Are you saying all these 25 do not belong there, and should be expelled from their home because it belongs to you?!
About Karabak being given to Azerbaijan … This too is a lie. Now, when the Russian signed the Kurekchay Treaty to take over Karabakh in 1805, they signed it with the Azeri Ibrahim Khalil Khan. If the land belonged to you at that time, why would they sign it with an Azeri? This is a historical fact: at least as of 1805, Karabak was an Azeri land. Now, was there ever an independent Armenian between 1805 and 1920 with an internationally recognized therrotority that inclded Karabak? No. And this too is fact. So when you say Stalin gave Karabak to Azerbaijan, it is implied that as if it belong formally (or otherwise) to Armenia. No, in fact, he simply agreed to leave it as part of Azerbaijan.
I know history and genetics will not get in the way of your myopic vitriol against “AzeriTatars”. By the way, you are really showing your true hateful colors by resorting to such intentional distortions against another nation. Note that I do not resort to call the Armenian nation something that I THINK as an insult (clearly you think that AzeriTatar is an insult somehow). We Azeri are proud of our heritage. Do we have some Mongol Tatar blood in us. Yes. But so do you in terms of regional invaders. Even if it turned out that we Azeris are 100% Mongol tatar, I would be very proud of that. It is the nation that built the largest empire in the world. What have Armenians accomplished besides dwindlng to a vanishing minory under other victors’ feet?
Avery, you must be a very bad chess player :) I cannot belive you made this mistake. So are you acknowledging the authority of Thomas de Wall, or not? You cannto have it both ways. I am ok with conceding in light of these quotes you cite from Thomas that some pogroms took place in Baku. Are you then OK with accepting that your president Sarkissian is a war criminal based on what we acknowledge to Thomas regarding karabak? Once again, you cannot have it both way.
Kerim bey,
I’m often amazed at how fervently do the Azeris attempt to ascertain sense of nationhood and geographic indigenousness to their current habitat! Only a made-up people with just under 100 years of historical existence would do that.
The article from the British scientific journal clearly states that its purpose was to “investigate the influence of geography and language on the genetic structure of human populations”. In this context, “[…] Caucasus groups speaking non-Caucasian languages (i.e., Indo-European speaking Armenians and Turkic speaking Azerbaijanis) grouped with their geographic neighbors in the Caucasus, and not with their linguistic neighbors elsewhere […]”. This is obvious. Of course, in the course of several centuries after the invasion into Asia Minor of Seljuk Turks and the Mongols, they would group with their new neighbors not with their linguistic neighbors. But, in the best Azeri distortionist traditions, you failed to give us a conclusion from the same article, which reads as follows:
“Neither geographic nor linguistic factors had a strong influence on the genetic structure of the Caucasus groups. Overall, it appears that the major factor in the region has been primarily genetic drift, caused by small population size and/or isolation.” Got it? The genetic drift had a strong influence on the genetic structure of the Caucasus groups. It doesn’t mean the Azeri Turks were an autochthonous nation, it means they acquired geographic relationships with other native groups as a result of drift. Your argument and a selected quote from the article don’t disprove of the fact that the Turkic and Mongol tribes have appeared in Asia Minor and the Caucasus as a result of invasions in the 11-13th centuries AD and that the Turks and the Azeris are their direct descendants.
I don’t know where the figure of “25 million Azeris of Iran” came from, maybe from the same best traditions of the Azeris to distort everything, but the prevailing majority of sources agree on 11-13 million Azerbaijanis living in Iran. Has anyone here said that they should be expelled from their home because it belongs to Armenians? Are you writing from a chaikhana while smoking something very strong?
Olivier Roy, an authority in Oriental studies asserts: “The mass of the Oghuz Turkic tribes who crossed the Amu Darya towards the west left the Iranian plateau, which remained Persian, and established themselves more to the west, in Anatolia. Here they divided into Ottomans, who were Sunni and settled, and Turkmens, who were nomads and in part Shiite. The latter were to keep the name ‘Turkmen’ for a long time: from the 13th century onwards they Turkised the Iranian populations of Azerbaijan (who spoke west Iranian languages such as Tat, which is still found in residual forms), thus creating a new identity based on Shiism and the use of Turkish. These are the people today known as Azeris.” Does this suggest to you that the Azeris—Iranian or belonging to AzerBEYjani Republic—were indigenous people in the region?
Artsakh was given to Azerbaijan in the 1920s by the Bolsheviks and this is not a lie. Read the materials of the Caucasus Bureau of the early 1920s. With the Turkish advance eastward in the early 18th century, the Armenians of Karabakh and Siunik were able to retain the regions under their control. As the Princes of Karabakh fought against different Turkic tribes, Persian rulers at first encouraged them. But the Persian policy changed in the middle of the 18th century. The Shahs of Zand dynasty began to support the leaders of nomadic Turkic Saridjalli tribe, in their systematic incursions to Artsakh. First, Panah Ali was able to capture the fortress of Shushi and proclaim himself Khan. Then his son Ibrahim Khalil Khan captured the Monastery of Gandzasar and gradually subdued Artsakh, founding the so-called Khanate of Karabakh. Only then the 1805 Kurakchay Treaty comes in, and you, in the best Azeri distortionist traditions, start with an episode where an Azeri invader figures. The hell with the fact that for millennia Artsakh was an Armenian land reported in the chronicles of Strabo as early as in 189 BC, when Armenian King Artashes I expanded his state over the lands of ‘Caspiane’ and ‘Phaunitis’ (supposedly for Saunities, i.e. Siunik), Utik and the unnamed land (evidently, Artsakh) lying between Syunik and the Caspian Sea. History for the Azeris, as with the Turks, only start when they figure, right?
History and genetics have a direct connection with the ethnonym “Azeri Tatars”. It is not a “myopic vitriol” by the Armenians. The tribes residing in the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan (except for Artsakh and Nakhichevan) were known to the world–in any historical document you can possibly find in any world repository–as Caucasian Tartars or simply Muslims. Why is it an insult, I don’t understand. This is how you were called until 1918 when the British and the Bolsheviks have invented an ethnonym for you essentially stealing it from the name of an ancient Persian province. How well have you researched the archives and repositories, if you don’t believe me? Show me one instance when the modern-day Azerbaijanis (of the Republic) are called as such before 1918, and I’ll offer my heartfelt apologies.
Kerim:
I’m having a hard time understanding what “heritage” you, an Azeri Turk, are proud of? That your Seljuk-Mongol ancestors traveled from their lands of origin some 3000 miles afar to Asia Minor to invade, scorch, settle in the lands of other peoples and then adopt their cultural traits? A nation is great not by territories it has managed to invade, but by contributions to human civilization. What were the civilizational contributions of nomadic Seljuks or Mongols? Sheep-breeding? Horse-riding? Arrow-shooting? Killing? Raping? Does the world know of 13th century Mongol music, architecture, literature, science? What exactly are you proud of? That Mongols extended their rule over a vast territory by fire and sword? Is this what Turks and Azeris take pride of? Well, guess what. Armenians are proud of their contributions into sciences, arts and literature, business and trade, engineering and architecture, music, religion, etc. These civilizational accomplishments make us proud, not foreign lands that we scorched and not native peoples whom we physically exterminated. Here where the difference in mentality between a descendent of a nomadic people and a descendent of a sedentary people comes in. For you, greatness is in territorial gains. For us, greatness is in our books, chronicles, architectural marvels, scientific records, literature, and music. I’m not sure that as an Azeri you will ever able to understand this. More civilized and nobler peoples were throughout centuries subdued by barbaric tribes (Rome is just one example) and Armenians are not an exception. Yet, the world knows us: from the oldest Babylonian map of the world ‘Imago Mundi’ — to the adoption of Christianity as the first nation in the world – to the paintings of Ivan Hovaness Aivazovsky – to the business of Calouste Gulbenkian – to the aircraft design of Artem Mikoyan – and to the music of Aram Khachaturian, among many, many others. This is what Armenians are proud of.
[What have Armenians accomplished besides dwindling to a vanishing minority under other victors’ feet?]
Kerim:
At least, Armenians have dwindled as a result of their extensive existence, wars, and the barbarity of your cousins Turks. But Armenians had an empire in the 1st century BC and various independent kingdoms afterwards, most recent of which, the Cilician Kingdom, ended in the 15th century AD. For how long the Azeris were not under other victors’ feet? You appeared on the map under the name ‘Azerbaijan’ only in 1918; lasted for two years as a republic; then were under the Russians; and only from 1991 are independent again. This is basically your history: you were under other victors’ feet for 71 years (from 1920 to 1991) and independent for only 23 years (2 years of the Democratic Republic + 21 years as modern-day Republic). Therefore, it is safe to say that you’ve spent three quarters of your historical existence under other victors’ feet. Yet, you’re mocking Armenians for being under other victors’ feet conveniently forgetting that our historical presence is 4000+ years long. Where is your sanity, Kerim? Do Azeris have it at all?
Gourgen, I am truly astonished … you respond to my post without reading it. You break into a typical outburst of how Azeris are nomads who came from Mongolia, AFTER I have produced a scientific article yanking this whole premise from underneath your feet. But you do not seem to care – so blind you are with your propaganda lies.
I said IF I was a descendant of a Mongolian, yes, I would be proud. You take issue with that. But here is where the hypocrisy comes in … You criticize the Mongolians for taking cruelly over other people’s land, and yet a mere few sentences further off, you jump into celebrating the vast Armenian kingdom 4000 years ago! Do you think the Armenian Kingdom was created pristinely out of thin air, rather than through Armenians doing to the prior residents what Mongolians did to their victims? So if creating an empire is a bad thing, then why are you still using your own empire from millennia ago as a proof of your own national worth? At least, “my ancestors” empire was more recent. Remember: the guys who took over Land X cannot claim superiority over the guys who then took it over from them. It is like the two soccer teams have already met, and we all know who was the superior team. Now, you mention music and art, and culture. For the length of time that you say you have been around, your accomplishments are truly paltry. The kind of respect you demand is due to the likes of Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Indians, etc. E.g., what Aristotle, what Homer, what Firdovsi have you produced in your 100000 years of existence (besides Kardashians and Agassi the ball player, and the like)? What great human accomplishment in world history and culture can be attributed to Armenia? I am not saying that you Armenians do not have anything to be proud of. You do. But please please do not self-aggrandize. As for the accomplishment of Armenian émigré, which is, yes, impressive, these accomplishments are not fully Armenian and belong more to the host country, e.g., America, France, who created the environment in which art and culture could flourish. As for Armenia itself, forget about art and culture … people are abandoning it in droves.
Safarov will become a leader in Azerbaijan’s fight against Armenians. With his shown hate for Armenians, he can be aligned with the likes of Goring and Himmler.
.
‘Strong disappointment’ doesn’t change the situation. Curtailing foreign aid dollars and military sales might surely get Aliyev’s attention.
Safarov is a coward just like his president Ilham Aliyev who bought his illegal release from Hungary at over a billion dollars, paid for by the Axerbaijani petrodollars. Aliyev is a coward and a draft-dodger. He was in hiding during the Karabakh liberation war. He is what we call a chicken-hawk. He chickened out at the time of the war and now after the war he has turned into a hawk with his war-mongering rhetoric.
Safarov is a coward because only cowards kill their victims in their sleep. A hero in the least, as he is falsely portrayed by his coward president, is someone who gives his victim a fighting chance. Safarov is a racist coward, plain and simple. How many heroes can you name whose release are purchased at over a billion petrodollars while coward Safarov’s fellow countrymen live at $50 a month wages? How many heroes can you name who are out of sight and in hiding in their own backyard and under police protection? Safarov is a spineless axe murderer who will get a taste of his own medicine sooner or later.
To ARx.
Tell kerim or his like that we are not the disarme3d Ermenis any more and not only Artsakh*Nagornyi Karabagh is now LIBERATED from aAxerbaijan supervision/rule, but WE SHOULD ALSO LIBERATE NAKHIJEVAN AND SHAYUMIAN , MARTAKET….
We are not to be intimidated from people such as Safarov whose race knows only to kill sleeping officers.
We need to fight with warriors..Come along anytime!!!!
Mr Palandjiyan
“WE SHOULD ALSO LIBERATE NAKHIJEVAN AND SHAYUMIAN , MARTAKET”
Are you ready to be wiped out from Armenia the become a cry baby?
Kerim:
You wrote this on October 21, 2012:
{And it is really disgusting how you Armenians try to re-write history regarding the January 20 tragedy in Baku, making those innocent victims to serve “as proofs” that there were rampant pogroms and killings that Soviet army came to quell. Nothing could be further from truth. I was there. The soviet troops came to quell the Azeri independence movement, just as they did in Tbilisi and Baltics.}
You wrote this on October 24, 2012:
{I am ok with conceding in light of these quotes you cite from Thomas that some pogroms took place in Baku}
“Nothing could be further from truth. I was there.” Oct 21,2012.
“some pogroms took place in Baku” Oct 24, 2012.
I caught you in a blatant lie, Kerim bey: admit you lied or admit you have no idea what you are talking about. After you do that, I may address your other attempts to re-write history.
Avery, you seem shocked that a person can be capable of changing his mind. Yes, all those things you cite me saying, yes, I said them and I believed them. But I admit the possibility that I may have been wrong. Maybe Thomas de Waal had better information. I can change my mind. Could you do the same, assuming you do put weight on his credibility in describing the events in the regions at the time? That is what I meant when I said you cannot have it both ways. I understand that. Do you? If you do, then do you not then have to admit that Sarkissian is a war criminal, because that is what Thomas de Waal essentially says by virtue of directly quoting Sarkissian about his involvement in the Khodjali massacre. You cannot believe de Wall only when it suits you.
Kerim:
“Nothing could be further from truth. I was there.”
I know the difference between not knowing for sure, changing one’s mind, and lying.
You claimed you were there at the time and claimed with certainty that nothing had happened.
Either you were not there at the time, so lied about that; or were there, knew what was happening and lied, claiming nothing happened.
If you were there at the time, you had to know what was going on.
The massacres and bloodbath went on for days. The whole city was engulfed in bloodshed.
I you were in Baku at the time you had to know.
So, in either case you lied: no two ways about it.
Admit you lied, and I will produce the exact quote that deWaal wrote about Pres. Sargissian, not what you are imagining.
And I will also list who the real war criminals were and are in the NKR war (Hint: look amongst your own Axeri leadership).
There is no such thing as Khojali massacre. The incident in Khojali was planned and it was the work of the Axerbaijani Popular Front. This incident came about as a result of internal political strife between the government in charge, headed by Ayaz Mutalibov, and the Axerbaijani Popular Front opposition to topple Mutalibpv’s government at the cost of some of the Khojali residents caught in the cross-fire who were forewarned and been given plenty of time and safe passage.
To the Axerbaijani Popular Front, it was less important whatever happened in Khojali but it was much more important that they take control of the government and they succeeded in their secret plan. Ayaz Mutalibov himself put the blame on the Popular Front. An Axerbaijani journalist wanting to expose the dark truth behind the Popular Front’s covert action was also killed.