First, national hero; then, national avenger; then, mentally ill… Neither worked… Now, national victim… Azerbaijan is finding ways to justify the murder of Margaryan.


The Azerbaijani government has found a new way of "helping out" its arrested official Ramil Safarov in Hungary: "Days of Azerbaijani Culture will be held in Hungary in the near future," according to Baku Today.

Photo: Margaryan's body after the murder

On 19 February 2004, 26-years-old Gurgen Margaryan of Armenia was hacked to death while asleep by Ramil Safarov, a Lieutenant of the Azerbaijani Army. Both were participants of an English language training course within the framework of the NATO-sponsored “Partnership for Peace” program held in Budapest, Hungary. The cause of the murder was Margaryan being from Armenia, the Christian country that won a war against Muslim Azerbaijan in the 1990s.

After Safarov committed the unbelievable murder, he was praised as a national hero in his country. The international community strongly protested the murder of the Armenian officer, while the Azerbaijani government tried to find ways to justify his action. At the beginning of his trial, Safarov claimed that during the war his fiancé was killed by Armenian forces, that is why he "avenged" the Armenian officer. But when Safarov was reminded that during the war he had not even entered his teens, things got worse for him. All the Azerbaijani attempts of victimizing Safarov during the trial worked against him, even to the point that the Hungarian judge BROKE the Hungarian law requiring 4th medical examination (alluding, that two of the doctors had been bought off by the Azerbaijanis). According to the Hungarian law, only 3 doctors can express their opinions about the mental condition of the defendant (the 3rd one, if needed, compares the two examinations and tries to find the true one).

Photo: The axe, used by Ramil Safarov, to murder Margaryan. When asked the reason of buying the axe (before the murder), Safarov had said it was a souvenir for his father.

After none of the Azerbaijani tricks worked, these guys came with a great idea! Now, as Baku Today reports on 13 January 2006,
"Days of Azerbaijani Culture will be held in Hungary in the near future… Preparations have started for the event, to be held by the State Committee on Work with Azerbaijanis Living Abroad jointly with the Azeri embassy in this country, the Committee told AssA-Irada. The activities target providing unbiased information about Azerbaijan to the Hungarian community and promote the ancient and abundant culture" (as a "reminder," this "ancient country" was established in 1918 in a region where the word "Azerbaijan" had not ever existed).

The "unbiased information" will include "a scientific conference focusing on Azeri history, culture, as well as the atrocities perpetrated by Armenians against the nation will be held. This will be followed by an exhibition of photos, art works and films featuring… terror committed against the Azerbaijani people."

It is too stupid not to understand what is the deal here. But for people who have no experience with Azerbaijani tricks, I will "explain." This belly dance is the last shot of Azerbaijan to defend and victimize the murderer Ramil Safarov…. Steve, an American traveler to Azerbaijan, wrote at his blog www.bakusteve.com that "Armenians are winning the PR war." I first disagreed with him. But if Steve is right, it is because Armenians are not as creative as the Azerbaijanis in fabricating hallucinations. That is why what Armenians say are more accessible to human ear…

Photo: Safarov (right) looking over at Margaryan's murdered body during the trial.

And a last thing. The Azerbaijani newspaper also reports, "the State Committee plans to organize a visit by a group of Hungarian media representatives to Azerbaijan." Of course, Azerbaijan is going to pay for the "travel expenses" for the journalists…

More on the murder: the silence of the Armenian authorities over Margaryan's murder.
Read my commentary published in the first issue of the periodical Shrjadardz in April of 2004. To read the commentary, download the first issue from Shrjadardz at
http://hayastan.com/shrjadardz/04april.pdf (PDF file).

Photo: Gurgen Margaryan