Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.
By Sabina Ahmadova - Trend:
The U.S. Department of State considers a resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh adopted by the California State Senate as a personal affair of the State, according to the website of the U.S. Department of State.
"I am not going to have any comment on a resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh adopted by the California State Senate," U.S Department of State representative Jen Psaki said. "It is a state issue."
California Senate passed a resolution, which is of an anti-Azerbaijani nature, Aug. 27.
"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.
"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 flaw 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," he added.
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.