USAN BoD sends a letter to Secretary Clinton over Nagorno-Karabakh
occupation and conflict resolution
Washington D.C. - On August 28, 2009, the U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) Board
of Directors sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton over
the latest news and developments arising from the Armenian occupation of the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, and seven adjacent districts, of Azerbaijan. The
full letter is enclosed below:
August 28, 2009
Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Clinton:
We are writing to you as the Board of Directors of the U.S. Azeris Network
(USAN) on behalf of
the Azerbaijani-American community and our members to reiterate, once more,
as in our July 24,
2009 letter to the President, our view on the Armenian aggression against
Azerbaijan and
occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and seven adjacent districts, of
Azerbaijan, as well as
the role of the U.S. as a mediator in the conflict within the OSCE Minsk
Group.
Taking note of the unwarranted and baseless pressure on the White House and
State Department,
particularly on the U.S. Minsk Group co-chair Matthew Bryza, by the Armenian
interest groups,
we would like to remind that the U.S. has been an active negotiator from
1992, yet despite some
efforts, the ongoing military occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and other
regions of Azerbaijan by
Armenia and its ethnic cleansing against some 600,000 Azerbaijanis, has not
been reversed.
Moreover, the so-called “Madrid Principles”, that have taken some two years
to negotiate, and
receive criticism from Armenian lobbyists, do not restore the situation to
its pre-conflict state of
affairs, and do not comply with the four UN Security Council resolutions
that the U.S. voted for
back in 1993. These resolutions, as all other resolutions from authoritative
international
organizations, while recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and
sovereignty over Nagorno-
Karabakh and all other currently occupied seven regions, also called for
immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of all occupying forces from these Azerbaijani
regions and cessation of
hostilities.
Furthermore, we would like to remind this Presidential Determination (PD) by
then President
William J. Clinton to the Secretary of State in January 1998 and then again
in December 1998:
"The actions taken by the government of Armenia in the context of the
conflict over Nagorno-
Karabakh are inconsistent with the territorial integrity and national
sovereignty principles of the
Helsinki Final Act. Armenia supports Nagorno-Karabakh separatists in
Azerbaijan both militarily
and financially. Nagorno-Karabakh forces, assisted by units of the Armenian
armed forces,
currently occupy the Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding areas in
Azerbaijan. This
violation and the restoration of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan have
been taken up by the
OSCE." (Source: Presidential Determination (PD) PD No. 98-11 of January 26,
1998 and No. 99-
8 of December 8, 1998, “Memorandum for the Secretary of State Re:
‘Assistance Program for the
New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union’”).
It is with great regret that we are noting that despite the “Baker Rules” of
1992, the four UN SC
resolutions from 1993, OSCE Budapest and Lisbon Summits’ Final Declarations
in 1994 and 1996,
Armenia’s acceptance of the Stage-by-Stage Settlement Agreement of the
conflict in 1997, the U.S.
President’s determinations in 1998, and a host of other legally binding
decisions, observations and
memorandums, the conflict has still not been settled and no pressure is
being made on Armenia to
stop its military occupation, withdraw its troops, stop its aggression, and
reverse its policy of
ethnic cleansing allowing Azerbaijani population to return to their homes
and start reconstruction
and normalization of relations and trade.
This is despite the fact that the U.S., its friends, partners, and the UN,
possess all the necessary
instruments and power to resolve this conflict on the basis of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity in
line with the UN Security Council’s resolutions’ basic roadmap. Moreover, it
is the U.S. that has
offered the most financial and humanitarian assistance to Armenia since
1992, giving away some
$3 billion dollars in aid alone, not counting billions in grants and
credits, as well as all other
political and economic assistance. All this while giving several times less
aid to Azerbaijan, a
nation that is, unlike Armenia, a strategic U.S. ally, a country which is
twice larger than Armenia
and a people who are the real victims of Armenia’s aggression and ethnic
cleansing, and hence
needed more assistance, aid and help to reverse all these negative effects
of military occupation.
Hence, USAN and the Azerbaijani-Americans are perplexed by the criticism
coming from the
Armenian side towards the U.S. Government, starting with President Obama,
and State
Department officials, such as Mr. Bryza.
Per our statement in The Washington Post on the day of inauguration of the
President of the
United States on January 20, 2009, the Azerbaijani-Americans and the U.S.
Azeris Network
(USAN) pledge their support and readiness to be consulted and look forward
to working on any
issue related to our community and to the Caspian region by the
Administration and Congress,
particularly the matter of Armenia’s occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh
region of Azerbaijan.
As described in the statement by the Azerbaijani-American community leaders
adopted
unanimously on October 2, 2008 at the USAN conference in Washington, D.C.,
Azerbaijani-
Americans aspire to restore peace, justice and fairness in the South
Caucasus region and see U.S.
play a role of an independent, influential, unbiased and fair broker. This
wish is seconded by all
ethnic Azerbaijanis worldwide, who view U.S. favorably and positively.
Hence, we welcome all positive steps in resolving the NK conflict, and offer
our full support in
light of relentless criticism from ultranationalist and maximalist Armenian
special interest groups
that have built their entire raison d’etre on creating and perpetuating only
negativism,
hatemongering and intimidation. We, as stakeholder representatives, are
committed to doing our
part to make the peace, reconciliation and normalization a reality. We stand
ready to work with
you to accomplish this goal.
Sincerely,
[USAN Board of Directors]
Adil Baguirov, Ph.D., Managing Director
Bedir Memmedli, CPA, Treasurer and Director
Yusif Babanly, MBA, 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, Eastern Region
# # #
The U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) <http://www.usazeris.org/> is a registered
non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian genuine grassroots dvocacy 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 rassroots.
