“EVERYBODY REALIZES THAT KARABAKH CAN’T BE GIVEN BACK TO AZERBAIJAN”
Azg/arm
01 March 05
John Evans Calls Massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Empire
â~@~XGenocideâ~@~Y
Mediamax agency informed that John Evans, the US ambassador to RA,
stated on February 19 that although the US follows a policy of
territorial integrity of nations, “Everybody realizes that Karabakh
canâ~@~Yt be given back to Azerbaijan. That would be a disastrous
step.”
Ambassador Evans said during the meeting with the representatives of
the American-Armenian community of San Francisco that “If Yerevan and
Baku work out a settlement, I hope that everyone will pull together
to help them. If they reach a settlement we cannot undermine it.”
Commenting on a recent statement by Ramiz Melikov, head of Press
Service at the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan, who said that there
would be no Armenia left in 25 years, Evans said, “This was an
outrageous, bellicose statement, and it brought all the bad memories
of Armenians back.”
Recently, few days ago, in connection with the George Bushâ~@~Ys tour
to Europe, the US State Department spread a statement that said:
“We recognize the territorial integrity of Moldova, Georgia and
Azerbaijan and we join the international efforts directed to the
peaceful political settlement of the conflicts in Transdnestria,
South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno Karabakh.”
Though the US and other countries in chair of the Minsk group repeat
that they recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, on the
other hand, these states do not predict the results of the negotiations
around the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. Thus, the mediator
countries accept any kind of agreement on the settlement achieved by
Yerevan and Baku.
Rudolf Perina, the US former co-chair of Minsk group, definitely
separated the Nagorno Karabakh conflict from the other conflicts in
the territory of the CIS in the interview to Ekho Moskvi Radio Station
on December 11, 2002. He said that Transdnestria should be the part
of Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia should be the part of Georgia,
while the issue of Nagorno Karabakh is quite a different one.
The statement by ambassador John Evans during the meeting with the
Armenian-American community saying that “Everybody realizes that
Karabakh canâ~@~Yt be given back to Azerbaijan,” is sure to be strictly
criticized by the official Baku.
By the way, only few days ago, ANS Baku based TV informed that Rino
Harnish, US ambassador to Azerbaijan, expressed dissatisfaction
concerning the warm relations between Azerbaijan and Iran. Ambassador
Harnish stated that Iran supports terrorism on state level and tries
to create nuclear weapon and it would be better if Baku took into
account this circumstance.
During the meeting with the members of the Armenianâ~@~SAmerican
community, John Evans called the massacre of the Armenians in the
Ottoman Empire 100 years ago “genocide.” “I will today call it the
Armenian Genocide,” he said, adding that he had also consulted with
a State department lawyer who confirmed that the events of 1915 were
“genocide by definition.”
Evans stated that though various US administration and officials have
avoided using the word “genocide” for the Armenian case, “No American
official has ever denied it.” On the other hand, Mr. ambassador said:
“I think it is unbecoming of us as Americans to play word games
here.” “The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the 20th
centuryâ~@¦ We made many mistakes after WWI,” he said.
John Evans also met with Ken Khachikian, chairman of the Board of
Armenian Cause in America. According to Mediamax, Aram Hambarian,
executive director of the Board of Armenian Cause, highly estimated
“the statement made by John Evans on the Armenian Genocide.” “We
take into account the fact that these statements coincided with the
new level of the current attitude of the US administration and the
American society towards Turkey,” Hambarian said.
By Tatoul Hakobian
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