Hungary’s recent transfer of Ramil Sahib Saharov to Azerbaijan was not aimed against Armenia and it cannot be considered as an insult to the Armenian people, Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi said in a letter sent to his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian.
In his letter, released to MTI on Friday, Martonyi said that the transfer of Saharov, who was serving a life sentence for murdering an Armenian officer in Hungary, was in line with effective international regulations and Hungary’s practice in similar cases. Martonyi insisted that the transaction had been “purely of a legal nature”.
Martonyi voiced regret over Armenia’s suspending diplomatic ties with Hungary and referred to the traditional friendship between the two countries and the “Christian values connecting the two peoples for a thousand years”.
Suspending diplomatic relations could have such serious ramifications that would not serve the interests of Armenia, Martonyi said.
The foreign minister also expressed support for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in its efforts aimed at resolving the Azeri-Armenian tension through negotiations.
Concluding his letter, Martonyi assured his Armenian counterpart of Hungary’s unchanged interest in further developing ties with Armenia, and called for a bilateral effort to find a way of restoring friendly relations.
