Armenian hacked to death at Partnership for Peace conference

AP ^ | 2.20.04

[ambrose]

Armenian hacked to death at Partnership for Peace conference

The Associated Press

Published on: 02/20/04

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- An Armenian military officer attending a NATO Partnership for Peace program was hacked to death on Thursday morning with an ax and a knife by an Azerbaijani participant, police officials said.

"We suspect Ramil S. of having committed murder with unusual cruelty," Budapest Police Maj. Valter Fulop told reporters. "We say 'unusual cruelty' because beside a number of knife wounds on his chest, the victim's head was practically severed from his body."

The Armenian Defense Ministry identified the suspect as Lt. Ramil Safarov of Azerbaijan and the victim as Lt. Gurgen Markarian of Armenia.

"We detained the suspect, who did not put up any resistance," Fulop said.

The interrogation of Safarov and witnesses ? including Markarian's Hungarian roommate ? was under way, said Police Maj. Jozsef Szigeti.

The officers were attending an English language course within the framework of the Partnership for Peace program, which is aimed at increasing cooperation between neutral and former Soviet bloc nations and NATO in peacekeeping and other areas.

NATO officials in Brussels said Hungarian authorities ? not the alliance ? were directly in charge of the language program, and refused further comment.

Police said a political motive for the murder was among the possibilities being considered and were also looking into how the suspect obtained the murder weapons.

The Armenian Defense Ministry's statement said the murder was "a result of the bellicose anti-Armenian propaganda, unleashed by the authorities of Azerbaijan lately."

The killing, at the Hungarian University of National Defense, comes a month after Azerbaijan refused to allow three Armenian officers to attend a conference held in the country's capital, Baku, under the aegis of the NATO program.

Relations between the two former Soviet Republics remain tense after Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan's army out of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s.

Despite a 1994 cease-fire ending the war that killed 30,000 people and left about 1 million homeless, no agreement has been reached on the territory's final status.

Azerbaijan's newly elected President Ilham Aliev said in January that Azerbaijan reserved the right to use "all possibilities" to solve the dispute.

[ambrose]

ping.

[Maximilian]

This headline reminds me of the George Carlin news report skit with stories like "Welcome wagon runs over newcomer" and "Good humor man slays 10."

[Cicero]

Religion of peace alert.

He was just trying to demonstrate that the Turks didn't really massacre all those Christian Armenians. It's just a slander against Islam.

[KnutCase]

Hacked to pieces at "Partnership for Piece" conference. It doesn't say how many pieces. Enough to go around for everybody?

[drhogan]

man, if this is a peace conference, i hope nobody wants a war!
"all we are saying,
is give peace a chance"
(stabbing sounds and screams heard in background)

[CurlyDave]

Read this carefully my friends, the religion of peace has struck again.

[jocon307]

"all we are saying,
is give peace a chance"
(stabbing sounds and screams heard in background)

LOL, sounds like the Rush Limbaugh bit where he plays "born free" along with sounds of gunfire and mayhem for the animal rights update.

Yeah, but there's no war on terror, there's no culture war, no, no, alls right with the world, it's the economy stupid, vote dem!

[ambrose]

The Religion of Pieces, you mean..

[He Rides A White Horse]

Police said a political religious motive for the murder was among the possibilities being considered

They may want to start there.

[Hop A Long Cassidy]

Religion of peace bump.

But there must be a right-to-carry issue here somewhere.

Also, interesting that it was Lt. on Lt.

This must be a real slap at Hungary for sponsoring - public forum.

Hoppy

[BykrBayb]

"The Religion of Pieces"

Hey, that's catchy. Islam, the religion of pieces.

[Chris Talk]

Islam really DOES suck.

[jonascord]

Dr. Stangelove:

President Merkin Muffley: Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

[Imal]

I tend to be suspicious of any "peace program" with its own body count.

[Wilhelm Tell]

The attacker decided to bury the hatchet -- unfortunately in someone's head. It is sad and a little disturbing when real news stories read like a parody out of "The Onion."

[Lion in Winter]

DARK HUMOR...BUT APPROPRIATE.

[Mark17]

I know, I know. With this kind of peace, who needs war?