Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The purpose of the resolution, put forward by Congressman Frank Pallone on the order of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), a racist organization, is to disrupt the substantive negotiations ongoing through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and efforts to ensure sustainable peace and stability in the region, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend Jan. 19.
Speaking with the initiative of this resolution, Pallone supports the military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, bloody ethnic cleansing committed against more than one million Azerbaijanis, aggressive separatism and injustice, Hajiyev said.
By calling on the US citizens to travel to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories and to have ties with the criminal and terrorist regime, Frank Pallone endangers the lives of the US citizens, Hajiyev said.
Hajiyev noted that apparently, Pallone resorts to such a step in order to secure financial and voter support of the Armenian lobby of the US at the election.
Hajiyev added that the resolution is based on false information and distorts the true essence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In a travel warning issued by the US Department of State, a serious appeal was made to the US citizens not to visit Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent territories.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.