Strong Armenia party wants to implement "anti-Safarov law" in country

ArmInfo.If the Pashinyan-Aliyev tandem succeeds in implementing the plan to return 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Armenia, the economic program of the "Strong Armenia" party will be jeopardized. This was stated in a statement by the party's leader and candidate for Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Samvel Karapetyan.

According to him, over the past two months, the "Strong Armenia"  economic program has been presented to the public in detail. It calls  for the creation of 300,000 new jobs, $1 billion for tourism  development, significant investments in improving the demographic  situation, exempting small businesses from all types of taxes and  inspections, and more. "People have already become familiar with our  programs, but we face a very serious problem: if we fail to stop  Pashinyan and Aliyev's plan to return 300,000 Azerbaijanis to  Armenia, the Strong Armenia party's economic program will prove  unfeasible for our country and people, since most of the jobs created  will be used by Azerbaijanis. For this reason, at the very first  meeting of the new government, we will adopt a fundamental law, which  we ourselves have described as the 'anti-Safarov law,' prohibiting  Azerbaijanis from buying land, houses, or receiving land as gifts in  Armenia, as we all witnessed when they received 240 square kilometers  of land as a gift in just one day. Therefore, if we fail to solve  this fundamental problem for the country, our program will be  worthless," said Samvel Karapetyan.

In turn, party representative and lawyer Aram Vardevanyan noted that  the country is currently at a point where concern is growing within  Armenian society. Recently, the Armenian public has witnessed how the  Armenian authorities are rapidly implementing Azerbaijan's demands.  Given the widespread awareness of the monstrous Pashinyan-Aliyev  plan, the lawyer noted, a legislative package aimed at countering it  has been proposed. This is referred to as the "law against Safarov"  or the "hate prevention package." Vardevanyan noted that according to  this package, Azerbaijani citizens, both as individuals and through  legal entities, will not be able to purchase any real estate. He  noted that the Armenian Constitution already restricts foreigners  from purchasing land in Armenia. However, Strong Armenia believes  that this restriction should also apply to real estate.

On February 19, 2004, Armenian Army Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, who  had been sent to Budapest for English language courses as part of the  NATO Partnership for Peace program, was brutally hacked to death with  an axe by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, a participant in the  same course. The Azerbaijani officer burst into Margaryan's sleeping  room and hacked him to death. On April 13, 2006, the Budapest Court  of First Instance sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment without  parole for 30 years. On August 31, 2012, Safarov was extradited to  his homeland. That same day, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev  signed a decree pardoning him. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense  paid the killer's salary, accumulated during his entire imprisonment  (more than eight years), provided him with an apartment, and promoted  him to the rank of major. Following Safarov's extradition, Armenia  suspended diplomatic relations and all official ties with Hungary on  the same day. However, in 2022, the Armenian side proposed that  Hungary turn the page in bilateral relations and resume diplomatic  contacts.