US STATE DEPARTMENT REPORT REAFFIRMS ARMENIA’S OCCUPYING AZERBAIJANI TERRITORIES

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 26 2007

The US State Department has again made changes to the initial 2006
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, APA reports quoting US
State Department’s website.

The State Department restored the first variant of the country report
on Azerbaijan that states "Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani
territories". This variant had been changed by the influence of
Armenian lobby.

APA’s US bureau reports the yesterday’s changes to the initial report
for the third time specifies the side [Armenia] which has occupied
the territories of Azerbaijan.

The previous changes to the State Department report caused serious
discontent of Azerbaijani side which as a result postponed its
high-level visit to Washington for the bilateral security talks,
scheduled for April 23-24.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry warned that the issue "may become a
serious impediment to further security-related cooperation between
our countries".

The changes "distort the essence of the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" and their introduction "puts in doubt
the U.S. position of the ‘honest broker’ in the resolution of the
conflict," the statement said US Embassy public affairs officer
Jonathan Henick confirmed that the State Department country report
on human rights practices has been changed for the third time.