Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The U.S. position regarding Nagorno-Karabakh remains unchanged: the United States does not recognize the de-facto regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, nor does any other country, including Armenia.

The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan told this Trend on March 13 commenting on the visit of Bako Sahakyan, who claims to be the “president” of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to the U.S. and the event promoting the fictitious regime at the U.S. Congress.

“The U.S. supports the OSCE Minsk Group process and will continue to work toward a negotiated settlement based on the Helsinki Final Act principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples,” the embassy noted.

The U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on March 12, where he received a note of protest sent by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to the U.S. State Department.

Moreover, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the U.S., after a meeting at the State Department, presented Azerbaijan’s protest to the American side. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev has previously informed that the note said that getting an American visa on an Armenian passport and entering the U.S. on the basis of unreliable information provided by Bako Sahakyan, a resident of the Khankendi city of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, permission to carry out activities that propagate an illegal separatist regime in relevant U.S. institutions and aim at collecting finance in the U.S. in support of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, contradict the norms and principles of international law, the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, the bilateral documents signed between Azerbaijan and the U.S., and the official position of the U.S.

Hajiyev also noted that this step of the U.S. is regarded as an activity against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and as a response to such behavior of the U.S., Azerbaijan will proceed from the principle of reciprocity in relations with the U.S.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Unfortunately, peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no tangible results so far due to Armenia's unconstructive position on the issue.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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