International Mediators Rebuke Azerbaijan Over Pardon

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/europe/international-mediators-rebuke-azerbaijan-over-pardon.html

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MOSCOW (Reuters) — International mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on Monday that Azerbaijan’s decision to pardon an Azeri soldier who killed an Armenian officer had damaged the peace process in the region.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since a war between ethnic Azeris and Armenians erupted in 1991 over the mainly Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but cross-border clashes this year have prompted worries of a resumption of fighting.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, last week pardoned Ramil Safarov, who had been sentenced to life in prison in Hungary for the 2004 killing of an Armenian officer during NATO training but was sent back to Azerbaijan.

Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary, calling Hungary’s decision to send Mr. Safarov back to Azerbaijan “a grave mistake.”

Mr. Safarov was given a hero’s welcome in Azerbaijan, where thousands of people took to the streets to greet him in his native city, Sumgait. The government promoted him to the rank of major and paid his salary for the eight years he was in custody.

The international mediators, including representatives of the United States, Russia and France, met with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan after the pardon threatened to inflame tensions.

The mediators “expressed their deep concern and regret for the damage the pardon and any attempts to glorify the crime have done to the peace process and trust between the sides,” the group said in a statement.

Azerbaijan said its president had acted in line with the law and dismissed criticism from Europe, Russia and the United States, as well as Armenia’s reaction.

“The hysterical approach of the Armenian leadership was targeted at the local population and was meant to be a populist political show,” said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Elman Abdullayev.

A White House statement on Friday said that President Obama was “deeply concerned” by the pardon, and that the action was “contrary to ongoing efforts to reduce regional tensions and promote reconciliation.”