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Californian senators urge supporting occupation of Azerbaijani lands

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Materials 28 August 2014 13:00 (UTC +04:00)
The resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh passed by the California Senate is declarative in nature and has no legal force, spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Elman Abdullayev said Aug. 28.
Californian senators urge supporting occupation of Azerbaijani lands

Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 28

By Saba Aghayeva - Trend:

The resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh passed by the California Senate is declarative in nature and has no legal force, spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Elman Abdullayev said Aug. 28.

He was commenting on the resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh passed by the California Senate on Thursday.

"This fact calls into question the honesty of the senators who voted for passing this document," he added. "This was possible thanks to the financial support of the Armenian lobby in the U.S."

"By voting for this resolution, Californian senators actually called for supporting the occupation of Azerbaijani lands," Abdullayev added. "This contradicts the international norms and principles."

"The document does not recognize the independence of the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic" despite the Armenian media's efforts," he added. "The Senate has no such right. The document is declarative in nature and testifies to the biased attitude of Californian legislators."

"The resolution aims to mislead the Armenian people," Abdullayev said.

"The anti-Azerbaijani resolution AJR 32 on Nagorno-Karabakh has been on the agenda of the California State Senate for some time," the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles said Aug. 28. "From the very beginning, a number of serious measures were undertaken by the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles to counter the resolution. These measures included, inter alia, sending letters of protest to all senators, holding numerous meetings with them, thus explaining the bias and flaws of the AJR 32, its contradiction to America's stated foreign policy and national interests, as well as the fact that this racist resolution justified ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia."

As a result, despite inordinate amount of effort by the Armenian lobby in California, where around 1 million Armenians reside, despite all the efforts by the two Armenian members of the California Legislature, as well as in spite of all the pressure by this ethnic lobby on senators using threats, blackmail and other means, 17 out of 40 senators refused to vote for the resolution Aug. 27, according to the statement.

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, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four U.N. Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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