Earlier this evening, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan declared to an invited assembly of foreign diplomats in Yerevan that Armenia was suspending all diplomatic relations with Hungary after Bucharest extradited Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani army officer convicted of murdering Armenian military officer Gurgen Margaryan in 2004 during a NATO exercise in Hungary.

Remarks by the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan at the Meeting with the Heads of Diplomatic Missions Accredited in the Republic of Armenia

Distinguished Ambassadors:

Unfortunately today we invited you to the President’s Office on an extraordinary occasion. As you should know, an officer of the Azeri military who had killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, was transferred to Azerbaijan. The President of Azerbaijan – and we have been warned about it – has immediately granted him a pardon.

This has happened because the government of Hungary, a member State of the European Union and NATO, has made a deal with the authorities of Azerbaijan.

I do not want to revisit the circumstances of the murder of Gurgen Margaryan; you are very well aware of them. As the trial had demonstrated, the horrendous murder took place only because Gurgen Margaryan was an Armenian.

Immediately after this crime had been perpetrated the Hungarian authorities as well as our partners – EU and NATO member States, were continually urging us to refrain from politicizing that process. We were continually urged to trust the judiciary of Hungary, a member State to those important alliances.

We have been closely following all the developments around that criminal. This issue has been discussed during each and every meeting with the President, Speaker of the Parliament, Foreign Minister and Ambassador of Hungary, and we have been assured on numerous occasions that such a transfer or a return of a criminal to Azerbaijan was excluded. We have received that same response to our requests during our contacts just a few days ago with the representatives of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry and Parliament. But as a result of perfidious developments the murderer has turned up in Baku and got released.

I have nothing to say about Azerbaijan – simply nothing. That country speaks about itself with the actions it takes, and I am not the one to explain those steps.

Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen:

With their joint actions the authorities of Hungary and Azerbaijan have opened the door for the recurrence of such crimes. With this decision they convey a clear message to the butchers. The slaughterers hereafter are well aware of impunity they can enjoy for the murder driven by ethnic or religious hatred.

I cannot tolerate this, the Republic of Armenia cannot tolerate it, and the Armenian nation will never forgive what has happened.

I officially announce that as of today we have suspended diplomatic relations and all official contacts with Hungary.

We expect a precise and unambiguous response by all our partners with regard to this incident.

Anyone who tolerates this will tomorrow be held responsible to history.

Half-measures and circumlocution are not acceptable.

We will judge the attitude of our partners towards the security of the Armenian nation by their response to this incident.

I request you urgently to convey this as my personal message to the heads of your states and governments.

That is all I wanted to say. I do not know if Q&A will make sense or not? I think it won’t since what happened can hardly be accommodated by a reasonable mind. A country that considers itself developed and civilized does not have the right to behave this way and it well deserves proper assessment by its partners.