AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Aug 28 2014
Baku assesses pro-Armenian resolution as pure political corruption
28 August 2014, 12:49 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles has condemned the
adoption of an anti-Azerbaijani resolution AJR 32 on Nagorno-Karabakh
in the California State Senate.
“The racist anti-Azerbaijani resolution AJR 32 on Nagorno-Karabakh has
been on the agenda of the California State Senate for some time. 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 biasedness and flawedness 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,” the Consulate General said in its statement made on August
28.
The resolution (AJR 32), calling to recognize a separatist regime in
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan was introduced by Assemblyman
Mike Gatto at the behest of the Armenian lobby. Gatto submitted the
proposal to California State Legislature on January 6.
The Consulate General noted the Azerbaijani community of California
also got mobilized and through various means harshly protested against
the resolution.
The Consulate said as a result, despite inordinate amount of effort by
the Armenian lobby in California, where around 1 million Armenians
reside, 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.
“Also, the senators who receive massive financial contributions for
their election campaigns and therefore hugely depend on the Armenian
lobby, voted for AJR 32, disregarding all the solid facts presented to
them. This is a pure political corruption. It has no other name,” the
Consulate said.
It is also a strong indicator of a serious flaw in America’s political
system that needs an urgent fixing, according to the Consulate.
“How can a state legislature adopt a document which strongly
contradicts the federal government’s stated foreign policy and damages
the country’s standing and national interests? Why no tangible
measures are taken to curb the influence of such special interest
groups who pressure the state legislators to disregard the national
interests of the U.S.? These are questions still awaiting serious
answers!” the Consulate said.
This resolution is not the first resolution adopted by the California
Legislature regarding Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which erupted back in
1988 over Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
The three similar resolutions had been adopted by the Legislature at
the behest of the Armenian lobby in 1993, 1997 and 1999.
“However neither those resolutions, nor AJR 32 have any legal or
political significance. The entire international community, including
the United States and United Nations, recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as
part of Azerbaijan. Therefore such meaningless pieces of paper are
unable to change this position,” the Consulate underlined.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
Long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless so far.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000
Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost
100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress