UNITED STATES SHOULD RECOGNIZE NAGORNO-KARABAKH,’ SAYS PALLONE

Asbarez
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Aug 21st, 2009

WASHINGTON-"I believe personally that the United States should
recognize Nagorno-Karabakh. I certainly would be willing to do whatever
I can to have that happen," said Rep. Frank Pallone, the co-chair of
the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, in a recent interview
with the Armenian Reporter.

The New Jersey Democrat also told the Reporter’s Washington Editor Emil
Sanamyan that Nagorno-Karabakh has every right to be an independent
nation. "So, what you really need to do is to have the State Department
change its position," said Pallone in the interview.

The Congressman also explained that recent statements-with a clear
biased toward Azerbaijan and Turkey-by Minsk Group co-chairman Matthew
Bryza reflected current State Department policy on Nagorno-Karabakh,
adding simply that the State Department was "wrong."

"They [the State Dept.] have to realize that according to the Soviet
legal framework, Nagorno-Karabakh had self-government and certain
rights, including holding a referendum and becoming an independent
country, which is what had happened," explained Pallone in the
interview.

"So it’s not simply an issue of territorial integrity versus
self-determination. Nagorno-Karabakh is a successor state to the
Soviet Union, and no different from Armenia or Russia in that respect,"
Pallone told Sanamyan.

"At this pivotal moment in the Nagorno Karabakh peace process, with the
State Department applying unprecedented pressure on Armenia to accept
the fatally flawed Madrid principles that would-if adopted-cement
Armenia into a structurally vulnerable position in the region, we are
pleased to see Congressman Pallone, once again, articulating the view
of the Armenian Caucus that the U.S. should get back on the right
side of what is fundamentally an issue of democracy, by formally
recognizing the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic,"
said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

Pallone went on to call the Karabakh situation a "powder keg," adding
"…if you do not work to solve this situation and come up with a
compromise, there is a potential for another major war in the Caucasus
that would have major implications for several neighboring countries,
Turkey and Russia especially. And that this strategic concern must
be appreciated."

On the matter of recognition, Pallone said: "…it will be difficult,
because a lot of members of Congress are not that familiar [with the
subject], I assume that the State Department would be against it,
and I am not sure how much Armenia itself would be pushing for it. So
it would probably be hard to do."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress