USAN BoD sends a letter to the co-chairs of the Congressional Armenian
Caucus expressing grave concern and discontent
The Board of Directors of the U.S. Azeris Network (USAN) sent a letter to
the co-chairs of the Congressional rmenian Caucus, Representative Frank
Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Mark Steven Kirk (R-IL) in regards to their letter
sent to Bako Sahakyan on September 3, 2009. The USAN letter is enclosed
below.
# # #
Rep. Frank Pallone
237 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3006
Phone: (202) 225-4671
Fax: (202) 225-9665
Rep. Mark Kirk
1030 Longworth Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4835
Fax: (202) 225-0837
September 19, 2009
Dear Rep. Pallone and Rep. Kirk,
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
express our grave concern and extreme discontent over your September 3, 2009
letter to Mr. Bako Sahakyan, the current leader of the Armenian community of
the illegally occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, who styles
himself as the “president” of the self-proclaimed “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
(NKR)” (the text of your letter is enclosed, as released by Mr. Sahakyan).
In your regrettable letter, you are writing to congratulate the “people of
the Nagorno Karabakh” with some “independence” day, yet forget about the
46,000 of these same people of NK (1990 Soviet population estimate) who
happened to be ethnic Azerbaijanis, and have been ethnically cleansed from
their ancestral lands by Mr. Sahakyan’s armed gangs. They too, are the“people of the Nagorno Karabakh”, and since we happen to represent them and
even be part of them, we can state with full degree of certainty that they
do not appreciate such letters from their members of Congress to the puppet
regime that symbolizes everything that is wrong, evil and atrocious in the
region.
Furthermore, you go on to assert that the “people of Artsakh” somehow“declared their intention” to build a “free and democratic state” and that
they have been “steadfast in this mission”. Adding insult to injury, in your
shocking letter you claim that the Armenian separatists and war criminals
have “successfully promoted democracy and the right to self-determination”,
and that they have “firmly upheld the universal values of freedom, peace and
democracy”.
The “independence”, “freedom”, “liberty”, “peace” and “self-determination”
of the illegally occupied Karabakh region of Azerbaijan that you refer to in
your appalling letter is actually better known by the world, as well as
White House, State Department and Congress, as the largest campaign of
ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in the South Caucasus, where
Armenia and the Armenian military forces have committed horrendous massacres
against the Azerbaijani civilian population in Karabakh region and adjacent
districts of Azerbaijan. During the aggression by Armenia against
Azerbaijan, this “independence movement” which started from the desire and
calls of outright annexation of Karabakh of Azerbaijan to Armenia in 1988
and thus rejected by then the Soviet leadership, culminated in the town of
Khojaly in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in February of 1992 when the
whole international community witnessed an apparent act of inhumane
vandalism and ethnic animosity.
There, in Khojaly, some 800 Azerbaijani civilians of all ages were viciously
slaughtered in just one night by the Armenian army, in what has become to be
known as the largest ever massacre in the region in the second half of the
20th century. All in all, the Armenian aggression and occupation of 16% of
Azerbaijan resulted in some 25,000 deaths of Azerbaijani civilians as well
as 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP)’s.
It should be noted, that there is an important precedent in the United
States in denying entrance and prosecuting perpetrators of crimes against
humanity in Azerbaijan by Armenian armed forces. According to the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), this government agency has
deported a former lieutenant in the Armenian militia, Mr. Vigen Patatanyan,
who admitted recruiting soldiers and providing arms to assist in the“persecution of the Azeri people”. Patatanyan’s removal was part of ICE’s
ongoing effort to identify, apprehend, prosecute, and remove human rights
violators. (Inside ICE, Volume 2, Issue 21, October 17, 2005, http://www.ilw.com/weekly/editorial/2005,1024-ice.pdf). Attempts by Mr.
Patatanyan to contest his deportation in court were also unsuccessful, and
he had to drop his frivolous lawsuit (see: Patatanyan v. Ashcroft, U.S.
District Court, Los Angeles, California, 2004, http://www.usdcdata.com/CACD/2/2004/cv00515.Patatanyan_v._Ashcroft_et_al/DS_1_04005151.html ).
It is unbecoming of a member of U.S. Congress to side, support and encourage
perpetrators of crimes against humanity, especially in light of the “Crimes
Against Humanity Act of 2009” (S. 1346) introduced by the senior Senator
from Illinois, Richard Durbin -- a legislation that USAN strongly supports.
That’s because your upsetting letter essentially lends support to people
like Mr. Patatanyan and his superiors, such as Mr. Sahakyan.
When you declare that you “appreciate” the “ongoing contribution” of Mr.
Sahakyan and his puppet regime to the “regional stability”, you make a
mockery of this security concept, the field of international relations and
the law per se. It is precisely because of Armenian military aggression and
illegal stationing of hundreds of pieces of military equipment on the
occupied Azerbaijani territories that the “regional stability” is nowhere to
be found, and instead, this occupation by Armenia of Azerbaijan results in
arrested development, less democracy, less freedom, less peace, and less
stability for two decades now.
Moreover, you are contravening the U.S. Government’s policy when you
encourage separatism and irredentism by the likes of Mr. Sahakyan, since
your letter does not comply with the statement by the U.S. Presidents and
other officials, as well as the four UN Security Council resolutions that
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.
Indeed, 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’”).
You can read more on the relevant topics in the special fact sheets prepared
by USAN:
1) U.S. policy towards territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and the
occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia
Also, it is not clear how can this puppet entity and military junta talk of“independence” when it has an identity crisis – being unable to settle
whether it should call itself by the ancient Caucasian Albanian (ancestors
of modern Azerbaijanis) name “Artsakh” or by the Russo-Azerbaijani-Latin
name of “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”. Moreover, notwithstanding that the past
two presidents as well as defense ministers of Armenia were all from NK
region of Azerbaijan, one cannot forget of Armenia’s Declaration of
Independence of August 23, 1990, which clearly lays claims on, and legally
considers NK region of Azerbaijan as part of Armenia. This Declaration of
Independence is the fundamental act on the basis of which the Republic of
Armenia became independent from USSR. Hence, Armenia has from day one
attempted to annex this part of Azerbaijan, and any talk of “independence”
of some “NKR” is disproven by its creator’s founding act.
It is with great regret that we are noting that despite a clear U.S. policy,
and that of the international community, you as co-chairs of the
Congressional Armenian Caucus repeatedly defy and ignore it, and lend a
helping hand to a regime of criminal secessionists and perpetrators of
crimes against humanity. We, as a diverse community of Azerbaijani-Americans
and Turkish-Americans, ask that you do the job you were elected to do, that
is represent all people in your districts, state and nation, and not just
one Armenian community. We insist that you not only retract your extremely
insensitive, prejudicial and poorly thought out letter, but also call on you
to apologize to the Azerbaijani-American community, as well as abstain from
such unfriendly, hostile, unethical and immoral acts in the future.
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 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.
USAN PR #9-3-2009
Text of the letter from Rep. Kirk and Rep. Pallone to Bako Sahakyan
"We are writing to congratulate the people of the Nagorno Karabakh
Republic, Artsakh and you on your 18th Anniversary of Independence.
This historic day represents another important milestone in Nagorno
Karabagh's path to freedom. On September 2, 1991 the people of Artsakh
declared their intention to build a free and democratic state, and
they have been steadfast in this mission.
The Nagorno Karabagh Republic, Artsakh has successfully promoted
democracy and the right to self-determination. Your continued efforts
to advance theses principals in the face of many challenges are
admirable. We remain committed to supporting the restoration of
Artsakh's war-torn economy, strengthening its democracy and creating a
solid foundation for continued development and prosperity.
For the past 18 years, the Nagorno Karabagh Republic, Artsakh has
Firmly upheld the universal values of freedom, peace and democracy. We
appreciate your ongoing contribution to regional stability and assure you of our continued dedication to Artsakh's security and development.
We have stood with you along your path to liberty and we continue to
join you in the call for formal international recognition of your
independence. We look forward to the day when we can join you in
celebration of the flag of an independent Artsakh proudly flying in
capitals all over the world".
