USAN BoD sends its letter to Los Angeles Times regarding planned showcase of the occupied Karabakh region by the Armenian government at the LA Times Travel and Adventure Show
Washington D.C. - On February 8, 2010, the U.S. Azeris Network Board of Directors sent its letter to the Los Angeles Times, its corporate parent Tribune Corp., and media subsidiary Unicomm, protesting the planned display of occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan as an independent entity by the Armenian government, an exhibitor at the event. The full letter is enclosed below:
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Dear Los Angeles Times and Unicomm,
We have read some very worrisome news about the plans and actions of one of your Los Angeles Times Travel and Adventure Show exhibitors, the Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia in Los Angeles and the Armenian American Chamber of Commerce, whose stated purpose is to promote tourism to Armenia. However, in violation of the international law, the U.S. government’s stance on the issue, and LA Times’s own Terms of Use policy, according to the Armenian press and government reports, they plan to promote tourism and showcase not just Armenia as the destination, but also the Armenia-occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
As is well known, Karabakh region of Azerbaijan has been occupied by the Armenian military since the early 1994, but has always been legally recognized by the UN, U.S. government and the entire international community as part of Azerbaijan. All Azerbaijanis around the world, including our own Azerbaijani-American community in the US, as well as the government of Azerbaijan, strongly object to any report, incident or event, where the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan over Karabakh is somehow misrepresented and compromised. As a community, we have staged boycotts and protest marches throughout cities in US to drive the point home, whilst the Azerbaijani government is known for denying visas and “blacklisting” known violators and alerting Interpol to assist in the apprehension of such individuals.
Canada, Israel, Italy, Korea and UK, who are among the sponsors of the event, all have embassies in, and enjoy excellent diplomatic relations with, Azerbaijan, and can relate to Azerbaijan’s separatism problem and the territorial aggression against the nation. Same goes for Volvo, which has entered the lucrative Azerbaijan market over a decade ago, and whose government, Sweden, is also fully supporting Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Additionally, some Azerbaijani-Americans own the Best Western hotels (another sponsor) throughout the country, particularly in Los Angeles, and would not be happy to find themselves involuntarily involved in this quagmire.
According to the Article 2 of the LA Times Travel and Adventure Show’s Terms and Conditions: “Exhibitor agrees not to assign or sublet its space allowed. Exhibitor may display or advertise only goods and services normally manufactured or offered in the course of its business”. See URL: <http://events.latimes.com/travelshow/files/2009/12/2010_ATE-Exhibitor-Contract.pdf>
Of course, if the Republic of Armenia, a sovereign country, is an exhibitor that was assigned an exhibit space to specifically promote tourism to its own territory, that space cannot be shared, used, sublet or re-assigned to anyone, including the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic” that the Armenian reports confidently assert will happen. Equally, any and all goods and services manufactured or offered on the territory of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan cannot belong, or otherwise, to the Republic of Armenia. Of course, it goes without saying that in addition to knowingly violating the LA Times’ Terms of Use, the Armenian Consulate and the Armenian Chamber of Commerce also willfully violate the international law and the U.S. government’s position on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. For more details, you can read the USAN Fact Sheet: <http://karabakh.usazeris.org/>
We urge you to stop this outrageous misuse of your Terms of Use and the international law. It is absolutely unacceptable for any exhibitor to promote any part of land, culture, and heritage that does not belong to them. The Consulate General of Armenia, along with the Armenian American Chamber of Commerce, should promote tourism to Armenia only, not encouraging illegal tourism to Azerbaijan’s occupied lands. As a community, we strongly support U.S. government’s position on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and are of the opinion that all U.S. legal entities must adhere to the government’s position. There is still time to prevent this outrage from taking place. Thank you.
Sincerely,
[USAN Board of Directors]
Adil Baguirov, Ph.D., Managing Director
Bedir Memmedli, CPA, Treasurer and Director
Yusif Babanly, MBA, Corporate Secretary and Director
Jayhun Mollazade, Ph.D., Director, Eastern Region
Bob Guney, M.D., Director, Western Region
Nigar Gasimova, M.D., Director, Southern Region
Azer Tebrizli, Ph.D., Director, Northern Region
Mehriban Afandiyeva, Director, Southern and Northern Region
SOME RELEVANT EXCERPTS:
“For the first time in the history of the Los Angeles Times Travel and Adventure Show, the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) will be represented—in the main Exhibition Hall, on-stage with cultural performances, and with a photo travelogue”
“The tourism offices of Armenia and Karabakh will share a large “Welcome to Armenia” booth in the Exhibition Hall of the Travel Show”
“And there is a “Destination Workshop” featuring a slide show travelogue about Armenia and Karabakh the first day of the show, Feb. 13.”
“The show features spectacular photography of the people, vistas, and historic sites of Armenia and Karabakh.”
“In addition to showcasing the beauty of Armenia and Karabakh in photographs, Karanian and Kurkjian will discuss the current state of tourism in the two republics and explain some of the logistics of getting there and getting around. They will also discuss Armenia’s prospects for developing as an eco-tourism destination. Their guidebook on Armenia, “The Stone Garden Guide: Armenia and Karabagh,” is the best-selling guide to the country.”
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The U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) <http://www.usazeris.org/> is a registered non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian genuine grassroots advocacy and voter education network that is facilitating political activism and efforts by the Azerbaijani-Americans and other Turkic-Americans and their associations, organizations, councils, conferences, and other formal, semi-formal and informal groups, on federal, state and local levels.USAN is the first nationwide grassroots organization uniting Azerbaijani-Americans, being created by the grassroots, for the grassroots.
