The International Crisis Group is warning of a growing risk of a new ‘accidental war’ between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries – sworn enemies ever since conflict in the early 1990s – have broken diplomatic ties after an Azerbaijani army officer, who murdered an Armenian during a NATO-sponsored Partnerships for Peace programme, was made a national hero by his government.
During his trial in Hungary, Ramil Safarov claimed that he lost control after Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan ‘insulted the Azerbaijani flag’ during NATO’s military co-operation event in Budapest in 2004. But the judge noted that he had purchased an axe and killed Margaryan with 16 blows as he slept, in a premeditated and brutal attack. Sentenced in 2006 to life imprisonment, it came as surprise to many when Safarov was extradited from Hungary to Azerbaijan last August.
