Azeri Foreign Ministry concerned about US aid to Karabakh

Trend news agency
1 Jul 04

Baku, 1 July: Azerbaijan is concerned that funds which the US Congress
has allocated to Nagornyy Karabakh, an integral part of the
Azerbaijani Republic, may encourage aggressive separatism, extremism
and illegal activities on the territory of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry says in a statement.

The statement says that the decision of the Congress can negatively
affect the [Nagornyy Karabakh] conflict settlement. “It cannot be
ruled out that these funds will be spent on the construction of houses
on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan where Armenia is pursuing a
policy of illegal settlement,” the statement says.

“The Azerbaijani side wonders how the USA will ensure that the funds
are used exactly for humanitarian purposes and in line with the
principles and norms of international law,” the statement says.

Following the initiative by the subcommittee on foreign aid, the US
Congress decided several ago to allocate 5m dollars to Nagornyy
Karabakh in 2005.