Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani pro-government and opposition parties have strongly protested at the European Parliament's September 13 resolution on the handover of Ramil Safarov -- a military officer who was transferred to his home country after serving part of his life sentence in Hungary for killing an Armenian officer in Budapest in 2004.

The clauses of the resolution are biased and point to double standards, says a joint statement to the European Parliament issued on Tuesday.

The European Parliament's resolution on Safarov's case expressed regret over Baku's decision to pardon him. The resolution regretted that Safarov was greeted as a hero at home, and expressed concern that this may increase tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which face a long-standing conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

"As the political parties operating in Azerbaijan, we clearly express our commitment to European values, the development of relations between Azerbaijan and European organizations," the statement said.

It says that while taking an active part in the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership, Azerbaijan commits itself to a collective agreement between the European Union and the countries of the South Caucasus.

"The European Parliament has adopted resolutions and made various decisions on Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus many times," it said. "Objective views on the main problem faced by Azerbaijan -- Armenia's aggression and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict -- were reflected in the documents. However, in some cases, groups of deputies represented in the European Parliament passed documents not reflecting reality for the sake of certain interests and mostly under the influence of the Armenian lobby. These documents are equivocally perceived in the public opinion and amid the political forces in Azerbaijan."

The Azerbaijani political parties said the European Parliament resolution regarding army officer Ramil Safarov's extradition and his pardon by the President of Azerbaijan is biased and serves the interests of Armenia and the Armenian lobby.

"International conventions and other legal documents regulate the extradition of prisoners and pardons," the statement said. "European countries joined these conventions and they are accepted by all internationally."

It stressed that the extradition and pardon of Ramil Safarov was carried out on the basis of Article 12 of the convention on the movement of prisoners, the Constitution of Azerbaijan as well as the principles of international law.

"Unfortunately, some bodies of European entities issued statements and documents that are a far cry from objectivity," the statement said. "It should be recalled that Ramil Safarov was born in the Azerbaijani Jabrail region occupied by Armenian armed forces. Most of his friends and relatives were killed during the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan."

"His family members became refugees. While taking part in NATO English courses in Budapest in 2004, he was subjected to insults by Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan, who also attended these courses. In response to this, being in a temporary state of emotional distress, he took extreme measures against him."

The Azerbaijani parties stressed that during the trial of Ramil Safarov in Budapest, a very harsh ruling was issued to him as a result of pressure from Armenia and the Armenian lobby. "This verdict does not meet the principles of humanity. Such severity is unseen in European countries' courts."

The Azerbaijani parties said the uproar raised over Safarov's case by the Armenian lobbyist organizations and communities and those patronising Armenia is an attempt to conceal the war crimes committed by the Armenian invaders as a result of the occupation of 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory, turning one million Azerbaijanis into refugees and Yerevan's unconstructive position in the stalled peace talks.

"The fact that none of the European organizations condemned the country [Armenia] which harbored and provided with citizenship the murderers who repeatedly committed bloody terror attacks in many world countries in modern history [members of the terror groups such as ASALA: Monte Melkonyan, Vazgen Sislyan, Varuzhan Karapetyan and others], outrages and draws resentment from the Azerbaijani public," the statement said.

It was stressed that after the extradition of these terrorists to Armenia, within the armed forces of this country they committed a number of serious war crimes against the civilian population in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, including the Khojaly genocide.

"We think that it would be better if such influential international organizations as the European Parliament take consistent steps towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict between the two countries, rather than making decisions condoning the Armenian aggression," the parties said.