Steps by U.S. congressmen deserve approval: Azerbaijani MP

“The fact that the congressmen have addressed the U.S. Senate to support the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh deserves approval,” member of Azerbaijan-U.S. inter-parliamentary working group Nasib Nasibli said.

In a period prior to the U.S. Senate consideration of the draft budget for foreign operations in 2010, a group of the U.S. congressmen called on the subcommittees of the Senate and House of Representatives for Assignments to support the article stipulating assistance to Azerbaijan, as well as other steps to enhance the U.S.-Azerbaijani relations.

Congressmen Bill Shuster, Solomon Ortiz, Robert Wexler, and Virginia Fox deem it intolerable to provide U.S. government assistance exclusively to Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh. They emphasize that the U.S. government should assist both Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Nagorno-Karabakh as one-sided support for the Armenian community has a negative impact on the image of the United States as co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group.

“It would be better to allocate funds also for the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh. Unfortunately, the Senate has considered no proposal on this issue so far,” Nasibli said.

“Congressmen who made this proposal deserve praise. But we must bear in mind that the Armenian lobby in the U.S. Congress is stronger than the Azerbaijani lobby,” he said.

“Nevertheless, it suggests that some Congressmen want to build a balanced and fair policy with regard to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the MP said.

Day.Az