BUDAPEST, Hungary — Armenia broke off diplomatic ties with Hungary after an Azerbaijani military officer sentenced to life in prison here for killing an Armenian officer was sent back to his homeland on Friday and, despite assurances, immediately pardoned and freed.Read the rest here.
Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by the Budapest City Court after he confessed to killing Lt. Gurgen Markarian of Armenia while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course. Azerbaijan and Armenia are ex-Soviet neighbors who have been locked in a long-standing conflict over the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In response to Safarov’s release, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian said his country was cutting diplomatic ties with Hungary, while Hungarian state news agency MTI reported that protesters in the Armenian capital of Yerevan threw tomatoes at the building housing Hungary’s honorary consulate and the tore down the Hungarian flag.
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While Armenia can be reasonably upset with Hungary on this question, what really ought to be happening here is that Hungary should be breaking diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan- Hungary was the nation which just was made a fool of and betrayed by the Azerbaijani government. Hungary's actions were at worst naive, ill-considered and foolish.
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