Armenia and Hungary officially agreed on December 1 to restore their diplomatic relations frozen by Yerevan a decade ago.
Armenia’s former leadership cut those ties in 2012 after the Hungarian government controversially extradited Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan; an Azerbaijani army officer who hacked to death a sleeping Armenian colleague in Budapest, in 2004. The Hungarian court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment in 2006. However, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev rewarded and promoted him on his return.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto announced their governments’ decision to restore diplomatic ties after meeting on the sidelines of an OSCE ministerial conference held in the Polish city of Lodz.
In a joint statement, they said the move will “open a new page in Armenian-Hungarian relations”. They noted the “common Christian heritage” of the Armenian and Hungarian peoples.
Unlike the other European Union member states, Hungary has openly supported Azerbaijan in the Artsakh Conflict. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that support three days after the outbreak of the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Artsakh.
