Politics 13:18 19/02/2020 Armenia

'Just murder sleeping Armenian and you become hero in Azerbaijan’, says expert 16 years after Gurgen Margaryan’s brutal murder

Just murder a sleeping Armenian and you become a hero in Azerbaijan, a practice which has not changed in Azerbaijan since the brutal axe murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan by his Azerbaijani colleague in Hungary, expert on Azerbaijani studies Taron Hovhannisyan told reporters on Wednesday.

“It’s a sad story, but the story is not only about an Armenian officer. It’s about the state of Azerbaijan and its policies, which existed both before Gurgen Margaryan's assassination and continue up to the present,” he said.

Taron Hovhannisyan stressed Azerbaijan showed the same vicious practice during the 2016 April war when one of its officers beheaded Armenian soldier Kyaram Sloyan, holding up his head as a military trophy.

According to the Armenian expert, both officers have been glorified in Azerbaijan as national heroes.

“This is the country we are dealing with,” he said.

On this day 16 years ago, 26-year-old Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan  was hacked to death while asleep by Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army. Both were participants of an English language training course within the framework of the NATO-sponsored “Partnership for Peace” program held in Budapest, Hungary.

This is how Gurgen's Hungarian roommate, Kuti Balash, remembers the evening before the murder: “Me and Gurgen were sharing a room at the dormitory. The evening before the murder I was watching a football match between Armenia and Hungary, while Gurgen was sitting at the desk preparing his homework. He just came back from the gym”. Staying with them on the same floor were participants of different nationalities, including Ramil Safarov and another Azerbaijani officer. Balash mentions that there were no conflicts among any members of the group. The subject of international conflicts was discussed only once, during the first day of getting acquainted, but nobody spoke of it afterwards.

On the evening of 18 February Balash had tea and went to bed, as he had fever, while Gurgen Margaryan kept on studying. Around 9:30 p.m. Margaryan went to visit another program participant from Armenia, Hayk Makuchyan, who was staying in another room.

Balash does not remember when Gurgen came back, but early in the morning he felt that someone turned on the light. He thought it was Gurgen returning to the room, but after hearing some muffled sounds, he turned his head away from the wall and saw the Azerbaijani officer standing by Gurgen’s bed, with a long axe in his hands.

“By that time I understood that something terrible had happened for there was blood all around. I started to shout at the Azerbaijani urging him to stop it. He said that had no problems with me and would not touch me, stabbed Gurgen a couple of more times and left. The expression of his face was as if he was glad he had finished something important. Greatly shocked, I ran out of the room to find help, and Ramil went in another direction.”

What happened next testifies that the murder had been planned in advance. It was not a crime of a personal motivations between Gurgen and Ramil. Immediately after murdering Lieutenant Margaryan, Ramil Safarov went to the room of the second Armenian officer, to finish with him as well.

That morning, after committing his first murder, Ramil went to Makuchyan's room with an intention to kill him. In the corridor, meeting a classmate from Uzbekistan who came out of the room after hearing suspicious noise, Ramil offered him to come and assist him in killing the second Armenian. The Uzbek tried to calm the murderer down but did not manage to stop him.

Afterwards everyone confessed that they were frightened to approach Ramil with a blood-stained axe closer than at three meters. Approaching Makuchyan’s room, Ramil tried to open it by shaking its handle. As Makuchyan confessed, he usually had a habit of locking doors, unlike Gurgen, but that night he forgot to do it, and the door was locked by his Lithuanian roommate.

Being unable to open the door, Ramil started to shout out Makuchyan's name in a threatening voice. Half asleep, Hayk went towards the door to open it, but his Lithuanian roommate managed to save him for the second time. He stopped Hayk from opening the door, as he thought that there was a real threat in Safarov's voice and that he might be armed. To make sure, he phoned to another Lithuanian who lived at the same corridor asking him to check whether Safarov was armed and what was going on at all. Meanwhile, Safarov went to look for Hayk in the room of the Serbian and the Ukrainian roommates, showing them the blood-stained axe and stating that he thirsted for nobody's blood but Armenian. Hayk Makuchyan was told afterwards, that Ramil ran to the room of another Azerbaijani officer, told him something in Azerbaijani, and then ran and stabbed the door of Makuchyan’s room three times with an axe. By that time the second Lithuanian and the police approached.

Safarov was sentenced to life in prison in Hungary for the brutal murder. In August 2012, he was extradited to Azerbaijan to allegedly serve out his sentence. Safarov was greeted as a hero in the country and pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.



Source Panorama.am
Share |

Newsfeed

17:12
She said yes: Marriage proposal at Hayat Project concert in Gyumri
A young man proposed to his beloved at a Hayat Project concert in Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city. In a video posted online, the...
16:45
Opposition MP slams Pashinyan's Artsakh statements
Opposition Hayastan faction MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan has expressed support to the Artsakh government in exile following Armenian Prime Minister...
16:04
MP Aghvan Vardanyan visits arrested activists
MP Aghvan Vardanyan, who represents the opposition Hayastan faction, on Thursday visited the Armavir Penitentiary where activists Vazgen...
15:36
Armenian opposition MP visits border villages
Opposition MP Tigran Abrahamyan has visited the villages of Voskepar and Baghanis in Tavush Province adjacent to the border areas demanded by...
15:04
Ex-Yerevan mayor setting up new party
Former Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan is setting up a new party in the near future, his team has confirmed to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service....
14:36
Armenia to send 29.94 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza
Armenia will deliver 29.94 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza ravaged by the conflict with Israel. The decision was approved at a cabinet...
14:07
Expert: Pashinyan decided to terrorize Artsakh leaders
Political analyst Suren Surenyants has criticized Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statements on Artsakh leaders at a cabinet meeting on...
13:35
Analyst: The West doesn't care about Armenia
The West wants Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace treaty as soon as possible and Armenia's territorial losses do not matter to it,...
13:06
Moscow concerned over anti-Russian bias of Armenia-EU-US meeting
The Armenia-EU-US meeting scheduled for April 5 is causing Moscow’s concern as Washington and Brussels are openly discussing its...
12:37
Pashinyan: Some circles displaced from Karabakh take actions threatening Armenia's security
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warns that the actions taken by “some circles” forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)...
12:04
Artsakh dissolution decree was 'the only way' to save people, president says
President Samvel Shahramanyan claims his decree ordering the dissolution of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic was the “only...
11:30
Japanese supplement products recalled after two deaths and over 100 people hospitalized
Health supplement products believed to have caused two deaths and sickened more than 100 people have been ordered to be taken off store shelves...
11:15
Today is Holy Thursday
The week leading up to Easter or Holy Resurrection is called Holy Week (in Armenian Avak Shabat). During this period, the Armenian Apostolic...
11:00
Upcoming Armenia-US-EU meeting not directed against any third party – Foreign Ministry
The high-level meeting scheduled for April 5 in Brussels is aimed at strengthening Armenia-EU-US cooperation and is not directed against...
17:00
Azerbaijan's team opts out of Sambo World Cup in Yerevan
Azerbaijan's national team will not participate in the Sambo World Cup to be held in Yerevan, Armenia, Azerbaijani Sambo Federation official...
16:45
Biden calls Putin 'butcher'
US President Joe Biden has disparaged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the second time in two months, publicly calling him a...
16:30
Armenian parliament speaker defends land handover to Azerbaijan
Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan has defended the plans to hand over border villages in Tavush Province to Azerbaijan. He...
16:04
Azerbaijan must create conditions for safe return of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh, UK says
The UK government is clear that Azerbaijan must create the conditions for a safe and secure return of ethnic Armenians who were displaced from...
15:35
Photo campaign calls for release of political prisoners in Armenia
A photo campaign for the release of Armenian opposition activists has been launched in Yerevan. Photos of political prisoners Narek...
15:15
Arthur Abraham's father dies at 68
German-Armenian boxing star Arthur Abraham’s father, Grigor Abrahamyan, has died in Berlin at the age of 68. “We’re deeply...
15:00
Armenian MP warns of threats after possible land handover to Azerbaijan
Opposition MP Tigran Abrahamyan has warned of threats to a number of settlements in Armenia amid Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s signaled...
14:31
EU mission hosts French ambassador to Armenia
The EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA) on Wednesday hosted French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies and members of the French...
14:06
Azerbaijan opposes Armenia-EU-US conference
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has deplored the EU-Armenia-US joint conference scheduled for 5 April, warning that it will create...
13:36
Political prisoner Vazgen Saghatelyan slams Pashinyan in letter from prison
Political prisoner Vazgen Saghatelyan has blasted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his regime for efforts to silence their critics in...
12:34
U.S. aims to encourage Armenia and Azerbaijan to bridge differences – State Dept.
The objective of the United States is to encourage Armenia and Azerbaijan to bridge their differences, U.S. State Department...
12:15
Ukraine tells EU to hand over 'missing' €5B in Russian asset profits
Ukraine is pushing for another €5 billion from the proceeds generated by frozen Russian assets that the EU has decided to withhold from the...
12:00
Eurovision 2024: Semi-final running orders revealed
The running orders of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 semi-finals have been revealed. Armenia’s Ladaniva will perform 8th in the...
11:45
Today marks Holy Wednesday
The week leading up to Easter or Holy Resurrection is called Holy Week (in Armenian Avak Shabat). During this period, the Armenian Apostolic...
11:30
Denialists Erdogan and Netanyahu shamefully exploit the term genocide to bash each other
By Harut Sassounian www.thecaliforniacourier.com For several decades, Israel and Turkey were in a honeymoon, supporting each other...
11:10
SME loan portfolio of Ameriabank reported more than 30% growth in 2023
The small and medium enterprise (SME) loan portfolio of Ameriabank increased by more than 30% in 2023 to reach to AMD 222.6 billion as of...

Follow us and get updates!

Most popular articles

{"core.blocks.header.spell_message1":"Selected mistake: ","core.blocks.header.spell_message2":"Send a message about the mistake?"}