23-12-2011 11:57:04

Hungarian novelist Molnar’s book translated by jailed Azeri officer

Hungarian novelist Ferenc Molnar’s most popular novel, “The Paul Street Boys”, translated by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, who is serving a life sentence in Hungary for killing an Armenian serviceman over insulting Azerbaijan, has been published.

PhD Asif Rustamli, editor of the translated novel, who has met with Safarov in Budapest, wrote in its preface, “I have absolutely no doubt that the Hungarian judge who handed down the sentence to Ramil Safarov has read Ferenc Molnar’s novel. But here’s what makes me think: if for an instant, that judge imagined not Safarov, whose lands were invaded and whose loved ones were slain, but Erno Nemecsec, who armed himself with an axe and a spear and threw himself upon invader Feri Ats, what sentence would he hand down to him [Nemecsec]? If the judge had given more thought to this question, this would have helped him to realize what an unfair ruling he had issued to Azerbaijan’s Nemecsec.”

“The Paul Street Boys” has been published in Azerbaijani for the first time. The book will be presented at the Irshad hotel in Baku at 3 p.m. on Monday.

Earlier, Safarov translated into his native language 20th century Hungarian writer Magda Szabo’s novel, “The Door”. The book, published in Baku earlier this year, was of interest to the readers.

Safarov is the first to translate fiction literature from Hungarian into Azerbaijani.

Safarov, 34, was handed down a life sentence without the right to a parole for 30 years on charges of killing Armenian serviceman Gurgen Markaryan, who insulted the Azerbaijani flag during a NATO course in Budapest. The Azerbaijani public condemned the Hungarian court’s harsh sentence, which was pronounced in April 2006 after a lengthy trial.

Safarov hails from Jabrayil, one of Azerbaijan’s regions that are under Armenian occupation. He witnessed torture committed against his countrymen and was among those Azerbaijanis who were ousted from their homes during the brutal war with Armenia in the early 1990s.

20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including the Nagorno Karabakh region, has been under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Up to a million Azerbaijanis were displaced in the war, which claimed some 30,000 lives.

TAGS: Hungaria, Ferenc Molnar, Azerbaijan, Ramil Safarov, Erno Nemecsec, Feri Ats, Nemecsec, Magda Szabo, Gurgen Markaryan, NATO, Budapest