TODAY.AZ / Politics

US State Department: "The United States and international community don’t recognize independence of Nagorno Karabakh"

28 April 2008 [12:15] - TODAY.AZ
Tensions around the ceremony of "20th anniversary of Artsakh liberation" to take place on May 2 in Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, are intensifying.
Thousands of Azerbaijanis living in USA have already joined the protest campaign against the ceremony organized by the local Armenian Cultural Fund. Spokesperson of US State Department Marianne Toussaint told APA, the event in Los Angeles is a private ceremony.

"US State Department does not recognize Nagorno Karabakh. The authorities of this formation are not recognized in the country and at the international arena as well. The United States is actively participating in the peaceful solution of the conflict. There is perfect understanding between mediators from US, Russia and France. US is not accepting Nagorno Karabakh as an independent country. The United States recognizes territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and considers that determination of Nagorno Karabakh status, as a result of negotiations providing long-term and sustainable peace between the sides, is acceptable. US is loyal to the peaceful solution of the conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group".

Azerbaijanis living in USA sent nearly 6000 letters to President George Bush, vice president Dick Cheney, congressmen and senators from California, media representatives and administration of Wilshire Ebell Theatre via the US Azerbaijani Network protesting the ceremony to take place on May 2 in Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

This campaign is still continuing.

Azerbaijan’s Consul General to Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov also appealed to the theater administration. The letter sent by the Azerbaijanis living in the US to the country officials says that the "20th anniversary of Artsakh Liberation" that will be marked in Wilshire Ebell Theater was possible at the cost of blood of 83 Azerbaijani children atrociously killed in Khojaly.

"Human Rights Watch called the genocide of 1992 the most merciless operation carried out by the Armenian forces during the whole war. This "liberation" also means celebration of the ethnic cleansing policy carried out against the local Azerbaijanis by the ethnos forming one third of the area," the letter says.

The authors of the letter bring to the notice of the Wilshire Ebell Theater administration that holding commemorative event "20th anniversary of Artsakh Liberation" is an insult towards every Azerbaijani.

"It can be compared with the rage of a US civilian at the celebration of the anniversary of 11 September, 2001 terrorist act," the letter says.

Wilshire Ebell Theater administration said they would make statement on the case soon.

/APA/ 
URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/44589.html

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