Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova, AzerNews Staff Writer

Following the handover of Azerbaijani military officer Ramil Safarov, who was serving a life sentence in Hungary for killing an Armenian officer in Budapest in 2004, Armenian terror groups, inspired by Yerevan's provocative and aggressive position, began 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 in the past decades, received on September 3 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.

The Armenian terror groups, which have been rooted for many years in the West and some Eastern countries, become active from time to time and carry out attacks leading to many casualties. These organizations' deeds have resulted in numerous terror acts committed in 1970-1980s around the world against Turkish diplomats and later against Azerbaijani citizens. ASALA, a leftist terror group, is responsible for the deaths of more than 40 Turkish diplomats abroad and has been mostly inactive since 1985.

Recently, ASALA emerged with threats against Turkey, leveling accusations for alleged unspecified measures over its Syria policy.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Hungary has received a threatening letter sent by e-mail from Ireland, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Hungary Vilayat Guliyev told AzerNews in an exclusive interview. "Hungarian intelligence bodies are working on it. There has not been any information about ASALA's activities over the past few years. The senders presented themselves as ASALA fighters in this letter. Now it is necessary to figure out whether the document came from an organized entity or from a person who just wants to frighten the staff of the embassy."

In this document ASALA directly admits the killings of Azerbaijanis by Armenians in Khojaly, an Azerbaijani town where Armenians committed a massacre in 1992, and threatens to increase the number of dead Azerbaijani soldiers on the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontline. Guliyev said it would be possible to speak about the recognition of Khojaly genocide by Armenians only after the letter's sender is formally identified.

Guliyev said the embassy is working on a normal schedule, without any changes. According to him, the consular service, as well as the other employees, are working as before. Certainly, the staff have been instructed to be more vigilant and to limit their presence on streets in the evening. Also, the staff have been offered to stop work and return to Azerbaijan, but none of the employees decided to do so.

In turn, the counterterrorism center of Hungary has tightened security of the embassy, the ambassador's residence and the staff members. Guliyev noted that since August 30, the embassy and the ambassador's residence have been guarded twenty-four hours a day by Hungarian police. Every employee has the emergency contact numbers to keep in touch with the Hungarian secret service, if necessary. At present, the counterterrorism center of Hungary is preparing recommendations jointly with Azerbaijani colleagues to ensure the security of Azerbaijanis in Budapest and Hungarian citizens in Baku.

Guliyev said that the Armenians are one of the thirteen ethnic minorities officially registered in Hungary. They are organized to a certain extent and have enough ties in the society.

As for Hungarian public opinion on the Azerbaijani officer's transfer, Guliyev said 99 percent of the Hungarian public are familiar with neither Ramil Safarov nor Gurgen Margaryan, the Armenian officer whom he killed in Budapest. Unfortunately, they have very little information about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the occupation of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia and the problem of Azerbaijani refugees, who were displaced during the 1990s war. Therefore, most of the Hungarians protesting Safarov's extradition are under the influence of their Armenian friends and relatives or generally, used this occasion to air their grievances over Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's policy.

Safarov, 35, who participated in NATO exercises in 2004 in Hungary, was charged with the murder of the Armenian officer, who insulted the Azerbaijani flag, and was handed down a life sentence. Safarov returned to Azerbaijan on August 31 and on the same day he was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.

Ambassador Guliyev added: "Threats come not only from the invisible ASALA, but also from the Armenian president, as well as Armenian politicians, MPs and others. All of this, in turn, significantly hampers the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the near future and increases tension in the region."

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said the Armenian leadership would be responsible for any provocation of Armenian terrorists against Azerbaijani citizens or diplomats.

"Statements of the Armenian government, full of threats and aggression, show that the Armenian authorities are sponsors of terrorism," Abdullayev told local media. "Yerevan's hysteria pursues only one purpose -- populism and election propaganda."

Meanwhile, international organizations refrain from commenting on the issue and prefer to remain silent. For instance, the OSCE has said "it cannot speculate on this issue".

Novruz Mammadov, head of foreign relations department at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, said that world public opinion on 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 the Karabakh 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."