Azerbaijani press: MFA: US supports Azerbaijan’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6

Trend:

The US supports independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within internationally recognized borders, Head of the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva said, Trend reports on May 5.

Abdullayeva has made the remark commenting on the information disseminated in the Armenian media about the adoption of a resolution on the “recognition” of the fictitious regime created in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan by the Senate of the Minnesota state.

She said that according to the Senate office, this paper, presented as a resolution of the Minnesota’s Senate, signed by Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, the Secretary of the Senate and the Chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Administration and Rules, is a personal statement of the senator and is symbolic.

“No voting is required to accept such a paper, which can be submitted by any member of the Senate; that is, it was not adopted by the state of Minnesota as an official resolution. As seen, this paper, presented by the Minnesota Senate supposedly as “recognition” of the fictitious regime in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, is in fact a symbolic “document” signed by the senator, not reviewed and not put to a vote in the State Senate,” Abdullayeva noted.

Leyla Abdullayeva pointed out hat the recognition of any structure as a “state” is outside the Minnesota state's legislative authority.

"As for the US position at the federal level, it is clear that the US supports independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," she said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.