AZERBAIJAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS FINAL VERSION OF APPEAL TO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF US CONGRESS
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Friday, 3 July 2009
At a joint meeting on June 30, Azerbaijan Parliament’s committee
on international and inter-parliamentary relations and committee on
economic policy adopted a final version of the appeal to the House
of Representatives of the U.S. Congress.
The appeal contains concerns that on June 17, the House of
Representatives subcommittee made a decision, which was presented to
the consideration by the highest instance.
"The decision, which envisages providing $10 million assistance
for the illegal Nagorno-Karabakh regime and imposes conditions for
U.S. President’s authority to annually stop the 907th amendment to
the Freedom Support Act, can be assessed as a support for separatism,"
the appeal says.
The committees of Azerbaijan Parliament considers that the decision
on such aid to the separatist regime is contrary to the whole essence
of the activities of the United States as one of the mediators of the
OSCE Minsk Group on Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
settlement and undermines their objectivity and impartiality.
"We bring to your attention that the Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan, occupied by Armenia, does not consist only of the
Armenians. As a result of ethnic cleansing, 65,000 Azeri people,
who were forced to leave their native land, are now living in
difficult conditions and without any humanitarian assistance from the
United States. The assistance provided to the separatist regime of
Nagorno-Karabakh, as unilateral steps with regards to the occupied
Azerbaijani lands, would prevent establishment of an atmosphere of
mutual trust between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of
Nagorno-Karabakh," the appeal of committees of Parliament says.
The appeal stated firmly that any humanitarian assistance that the
United States can provide to Nagorno-Karabakh must be coordinated
with the Government of Azerbaijan, and the United States should give
priority to the activities highlighting the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh
is a territory of Azerbaijan. If to consider that there are plans to
provide humanitarian assistance through the United States government
agencies, it would be correct to deliver the aid through appropriate
agencies, functioning in Azerbaijan. This will meet the humanitarian
concerns of the United States and would reaffirm the recognition of
the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan by the United States.
"We hope that the concern expressed in our letter will be accepted
with understanding," says the appeal to the House of Representatives
of the U.S. Congress.
The appeal was addressed to the Chairman of the Senate of the
U.S. Congress, Robert Byrd, Chairman of the House of Representatives
of U.S. Congress Nancy Pelosi and members of Congress’s Group for
relations with Azerbaijan.