Top official: Calling Armenians’ rage upon Azerbaijanis, Sargsyan in fact gave order to attack people by nationality

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 7 / Trend M.Aliyev /

Recent events, like litmus paper, revealed a full-scale political crisis in Armenia, causing an inappropriate reaction of Yerevan, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Political Analysis and Information Provision Department head Elnur Aslanov believes.

"Cultivating and sharpening the enemy's image in Azerbaijanis, President Sargsyan has been overzealous a little. Calling the Armenians' rage on Azerbaijanis, Sargsyan actually gave the order to attack people based on nationality. So he threw out another share of intolerance, and pointed to Azerbaijan in an attempt to distract population from the dismal socio-economic and political situation in Armenia," Aslanov said in an interview with Trend on Friday.

The most interesting is that just yesterday, deputy speaker of the Armenian parliament Edward Sharmazanov, copying Sargsyan, at the extraordinary session of the National Assembly, repeated the thesis "Carthage must be destroyed", confirming the scale of xenophobia which is growing in Armenia, Aslanov said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan strongly condemned the release of Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov and called an emergency meeting of the Security Council of Armenia to discuss further action.

Sargsyan instructed to destroy Safarov, the information released by the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan said.

Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, who was convicted in Hungary, returned to Azerbaijan on Aug. 31. The same day, under an order of the head of state, he was pardoned.

Ramil Safarov was born on August 25, 1977 in the Jabrail region of Azerbaijan. Safarov 34, who participated in NATO exercises in 2004 in Hungary, was charged with the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, who insulted the Azerbaijani flag. As the result of the verdict by the Budapest court, Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment without the right of pardon during 30 years.

Immediately after the Azerbaijani officer's release, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced that Armenia suspends diplomatic relations and all official contacts with Hungary.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Current political crisis in Armenia became only the logical conclusion of chaos which intensified after the parliamentary elections, Aslanov belives.

"The Armenian population is insolently and cynically being turned into "second-class", the poor, the people who have no future. Into people who do not have confidence in the fact that there is a law, health care and the ability to have a decent job and salary," he said.

The results of the parliamentary elections, namely, the massive bribery of voters, demonstrated how depressing the situation of the Armenian population is, Aslanov noted.

He said that it is already possible today to predict that before the upcoming 2013 presidential elections, popular discontent will be expressed in mass protests.

"This period in Armenia will be characterized by a high level of social tension. Retaliatory measures of Yerevan "puppeteers" will remain ineffective, and, most likely, will only contribute to the worsening of the situation," he added.

Aslanov believes that ahead of 2013 elections, President Sargsyan faces the most important in his life choice - Armenia should specifically decide on its geopolitical vector.

"The country's development model depends on this a lot less than does Sargsyan's political survival. The dilemma is in clear designation between the direction of development dictated by the Armenian diaspora and the direction that is determined today by survival of Armenian statehood as the outpost," Aslanov said.