Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 18 2009

U.S aid to Nagorno-Karabakh could adversely affect negotiations:
Azerbaijani FM

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 18 / Trend News E.Tariverdiyeva /

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Washington Yashar Aliyev presented the
official protest note in connection with the U.S. Congress’s decision
to allocate $8 million to the Nagorno-Karabakh. The note says that
such actions by the United States may adversely affect the negotiation
process on the Nagorno-Karabakh, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Elkhan
Polukhov told Trend News.

Polukhov said in the protest note Azerbaijan stated that such actions
call into question the impartiality of the United States as a mediator
in the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Polukhov, the note underscores that the Nagorno-Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan, as well as seven other surrounding areas, is
under Armenian occupation and the U.S. government’s any programs and
activities in the Nagorno-Karabakh without consultations with
Azerbaijan is contrary to officially stated position of the U.S. on
support to sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within
its internationally recognized borders.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. General Assembly’s
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.