Recent Incidents in Hungary and Azerbaijan Discussed at World Council of Churches Meeting in Crete
On September 3, 2012 at a session of the Central Committee meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC), being held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Central Committee and Executive Committee member of the WCC for the Armenian Church; spoke during a meeting in discussion of Public Issues.
Archbishop Vicken presented a brief explanation of the recent release of the self-confessed and convicted murderer Lt. Ramil Safarov of Azerbaijan, who hacked to death a sleeping Lt. Gurgen Margarayan of Armenia. Both soldiers had been attending a NATO program "Partnership for Peace" in Budapest, Hungary in 2004. His Eminence explained that the government of Azerbaijan, upon the transfer of the prisoner from Hungary, immediately pardoned and released Lt. Safarov, elevated him to the rank of Major, and rewarded him with cash and a new home. "It is viewed as a great honor in Azerbaijan to murder an Armenian soldier, and their entire country has welcomed him as a hero." Archbishop Vicken stated in part.
Rev. Dr. Vilmos Fischl, General Secretary for the National Council of Churches in Hungary, and a proxy member of the Central Committee of the WCC, spoke alongside Archbishop Vicken. Rev. Dr. Fischl stated that the Republic of Hungary acted in good faith, and within international law and in accordance with the Geneva Convention before returning Lt. Safarov, and that his government had received assurances from the Ministry of Justice in Azerbaijan that the prisoner would be imprisoned for a minimum of 25 years before the possibility of release. He further explained that the heads of all the churches in Hungary have written to His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, expressing their solidarity with the Armenian nation and their own dismay at the incident. They both asked the Central Committee members to pray for the peace and stability in the region.
WCC General Secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke and explained that he had been briefed on the situation, and has sent a letter on behalf of the WCC, voicing his strong objections to Dr Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, with copies sent to President János Áder, Republic of Hungary; WCC Member Churches in Hungary; President Serzh Sargsyan, Republic of Armenia; and His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. ###
