Azernews.Az

Armenian terror group ASALA openly threatens Azerbaijani diplomats and decided to launch terrorist attacks against diplomats involved in last week's transfer of Azerbaijani military officer Ramil Safarov to his home country, which is a "very serious" matter, Presidential Administration official Novruz Mammadov has said.

Safarov was transferred to Azerbaijan last Friday after serving part of his life sentence in Hungary for killing in 2004 an Armenian officer, who insulted the Azerbaijani flag. On the same day he was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.

Following Safarov's handover, Armenian terrorist organizations, inspired by the provocative and aggressive position of the Armenian government, are threatening diplomatic missions and citizens of Azerbaijan abroad.

A document sent by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), a terror group that has been largely inactive for the past decades, received on Monday by the embassy of Azerbaijan in Hungary, indicates as a target Azerbaijani diplomats, Azerbaijani students studying abroad, businessmen, activists of diaspora organizations, and claims they will be killed.

Novruz Mammadov, head of foreign relations at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, told the ruling Yeni (New) Azerbaijan Party's website that world public opinion in certain matters always takes the side of Armenia, which "inspires the Armenian side, the current separatist leaders, and allows them to take the steps they need".

"The Armenian government has already shown its terrorist nature by its activities," Mammadov said. "This is no accident. Most of the incumbent Armenian leaders were directly involved in terrorist acts and massacres committed in Nagorno-Karabakh [an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia since a 1990s war]. And today, in order to remain in power, such processes are necessary. Thus, the international community should see who is the terrorist and who is engaged in terror activities."

"We openly spoke of Ramil Safarov. However, Armenia's open support for terror inspires terrorist organizations such as ASALA. As if the Armenian side needed a pretext to delay a peaceful and fair settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations. So, they are causing uproar, using this issue as a banner. The whole world knows that the obstacle for easing tension in the region is the occupation of Azerbaijani lands that has been ongoing for 20 years. If the international community is fair and impartial, it must express its attitude towards this," Mammadov said.