From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Feb 24 2004 - 08:31:43 EST
Azeri officials meet detained officer in Budapest
Text of report by Azerbaijani private TV station ATV on 23 February
[Presenter] The murder of an Armenian officer in Budapest by Sr Lt Ramil
Safarov will not damage Azerbaijani-NATO cooperation, the Azerbaijani
ambassador to Austria, Vaqif Sadixov, has said. He said an Azerbaijani
delegation had met Ramil Safarov to get detailed information about the
incident.
[Correspondent over archive footage of Budapest and Safarov's pictures]
The delegation of the [Azerbaijani] Defence Ministry in Budapest has met
Sr Lt Ramil Safarov, suspected of murdering an Armenian officer. The
military attache and first secretary of the Azerbaijani embassy in
Austria also met Safarov. Sadixov said that they also met the management
of the National Defence University.
[Sadixov over the phone] Representatives of our embassy went to Budapest
in connection with the incident, met the chiefs of the Budapest city
main police department, the heads of the Hungarian National Defence
University and the officer himself. At the present time, the officer is
being held in the city main police department.
[Correspondent] The ambassador said that the incident is being
investigated by the city police department and added that the
investigation process is under control. The ambassador said that another
[Azerbaijani] serviceman is currently being questioned and will return
to the motherland by the end of the week.
[Sadixov] The management of the university said that the other
servicemen would most likely return to Baku this week. Their studies
were supposed to continue until April, but the circumstances have
changed and these officers should go back to Baku.
[Correspondent] Mr Sadixov noted that, unlike the Armenian lobby, which
is doing its best to politicize the issue, the National Defence
University, as well as the Budapest police department, see the incident
as purely criminal. Due to the fact that the investigation is not over,
both the university and the police department have not expressed their
views yet. They are even avoiding describing him as a criminal before
the court's ruling, end of quote.
Farida Agaverdiyeva, "Son Xabar".
Source: Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku, in Azeri 1630 gmt 23 Feb 04
BBC Mon TCU 230204 at/nm
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