Baku Today

Azeri Foreign Ministry Protests U.S. Congress

Baku Today 02/07/2004 16:50

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday protested a decision by
the foreign aid subcommittee of the U.S. Congress to provide $5 million of
aid to Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s mainly ethnic-Armenian populated
region that has been under the Armenian occupation since early 1990s.

A statement by the foreign ministry expressed concern that the allotted
money would be used in maintaining of `aggressive separatism, extremism and
promotion of illegal activities’ in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s other
territories occupied by Armenia.

`This decision by the Congress can effect the settlement process of the
conflict negatively,’ the statement read, adding that the funds could also
be funneled to a resettlement of Armenians in Azerbaijan’s occupied
territories.

The statement urged the U.S. government to make sure that the aid is used
for humanitarian ends and within international principles and norms.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are at odds over Nagorno-Karabakh, over which Baku
has lost control after 1991-94 war.

Armenian troops have also captured seven administrative districts of
Azerbaijan – Lachin, Kelbecer, Aghdam, Fizuli, Jebrail, Zengilan and Qubadli
– forcing over 700 civilians to leave their homes.

A cease-fire agreement reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1994 is
frequently violated by exchange of fires while peace negotiations mediated
by OSCE’s Minsk group since 1992 have yielded no result.