The case of Major Ramil Safarov has
precious little to do with the UN, except that it is through the UN that I was
made aware of it. It is one of the most disturbing stories to come out of the
post-Soviet Caucasus recently. Not because of particular violence or brutality,
thought it has plenty of that, but because of the utter contempt for the rule
of law and of good faith negotiations that are essential for international
relations demonstrated by the Azeri government.
The Ramil Safarov case is just latest
manifestation of tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia. As neighbouring
peoples the Azeris and the Armenians have been in conflict for centuries. In
its current form the conflict is about the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a de facto
independent republic in western Azerbaijan with ethnic Armenians form a
majority of the region’s population. Tension over control of the region built
up in the late eighties, and escalated into all out war following the collapse
of the Soviet Union. A Russian brokered ceasefire put an end to hostilities and
remains in affect to this day, though both sides commit minor violations on an
almost daily basis.
It is only in this context that Maj.
Safarov’s actions make any sense. In 2004, Safarov, then a lieutenant in the
Azerbaijan Land Forces, participated in an English language course in Budapest
with other officers from all over eastern Europe as part of NATO’s Partnership
for Peace Initiative. On the night of 19 February, Lt. Safarov snuck into the
dorm of Lt. Gurgen Margaryan, one of two Armenian officers on the course, and
brutally murdered him with an axe. He also attempted to kill the other Armenian
officer, but was arrested by Hungarian police before he was able to do so.
After two years of trial, Hungarian courts sentenced him to life in prison with
no possibility of parole for at least thirty years.
The case took on a new dimension
early this year when the Azeri government entered into the negotiations about
the possibility of transferring Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan to serve out the
rest of his sentence there. After about six months of negotiation, the
Hungarian government was satisfied that Azerbaijan had provided sufficient
assurances under the European Convention on the Transfer of Convicted Persons,
and Safarov was duly extradited. He was welcomed as a hero in Baku, was
immediately granted a pardon by President Ilham Aliyev, promoted to Major, and
awarded eight years back pay for the time he spent in prison.
Appalling as all of this is, it’s
not all that surprising when you take a closer look at the man behind the most
recent developments. It’s not without reason that in the WikiLeaks cables,
President Aliyev is likened to Michael Corleone. He is essentially a mafia
boss. He has known ties to the Russian mob, and to criminal elements in the
Azeri diaspora, and is a key figure in the Baku underworld. When construed as a
mob kingpin rewarding one of his foot soldiers for killing a foot soldier of
his most hated enemies, rather than as a head of state flouting international law,
the whole affair seems disturbingly normal.
What is far more concerning is that
Azerbaijan currently holds a seat on the UN Security Council. There have been
far more unsavoury governments represented on the council (Libya under Gadhafi,
Argentina under Peron), this has usually due to functional necessity or lack of
good alternatives, but this is not at all the case here. Both Hungary and
Slovakia ran for the seat a little over a year ago, and it’s not like
Azerbaijan’s is an essential voice for the maintenance of international peace
and security. If anything, their actions in Nagorno-Karabakh actively threaten
the stability of the region. The only reason I can see that they are on the
council is that they ran a successful negative campaign, the first since 1980,
against the other two candidates.
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