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Armenian Assembly of America News
1334 G Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20005
Tel: (202) 393-3434
Fax: (202) 638-4904
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://armenianassembly.tumblr.com/
Representatives Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman Condemn Azerbaijan Aggression
against the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
AAANews Blog
August 7, 2014
Today, Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) commented
on the latest Azerbaijani aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Congressman Schiff said that "For two decades, the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh have lived with constant threats and sniper fire from
Azerbaijan, which seeks to reassert control over the overwhelmingly
Armenian population of the region. Last week, Azeri forces again attacked
across the Line of Contact, resulting in casualties on both sides. This
latest resort to violence must be condemned in the strongest terms, and
America should call upon the Azeri government to withdraw its forces and
renounce the use of snipers, especially against civilians, and all American
military assistance should be suspended until Azerbaijan does so.
"Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev plan
to meet starting tomorrow, but if their talks are to have any chance of
bearing fruit, President Aliyev is going to adopt a sharply different tone
from his remarks of late, when he asserted that Azerbaijan had the means to
destroy 'any facility in Nagorno-Karabakh' and again trumpeted his
country's military prowess.
"Since breaking free of a regime that encouraged violence and pogroms
against its Armenian Christian citizens, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh
have sought to build democracy and a market economy at home. Baku has
responded with an oil-boom funded military build-up and a campaign of
bellicose rhetoric and has so imbued its citizens with blood lust against
Armenians, that an Azeri army captain who beheaded a sleeping Armenian
colleague during a NATO Partnership for Peace exercise was treated as a
hero and promoted to major after his transfer from a Hungarian prison in
2012. Now is the time for the Minsk Group to assert itself in this
long-running and increasingly dangerous dispute. The people of
Nagorno-Karabakh have the right to determine their own future, free from
Azeri threats and violence, and they also have the right to go about their
lives without fear of being shot in the back by a sniper."
Congressman Sherman said: `I am deeply saddened by the recent reports of
escalated violence on the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia border and the
deaths of several Armenian and Azeri soldiers. I am taken aback by
Azerbaijan's attacks on Red Cross staff in a border village in Armenia and
Baku's decision to use sniper rifles in this conflict after several years
of respecting the decision by both sides to refrain from doing so. It is
my sincere hope that Azerbaijan will abstain from further sniper attacks
and instead engage in meaningful resolution talks with Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.'
Available online at: http://bit.ly/1mqlleE
1334 G Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20005
Tel: (202) 393-3434
Fax: (202) 638-4904
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://armenianassembly.tumblr.com/
Representatives Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman Condemn Azerbaijan Aggression
against the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
AAANews Blog
August 7, 2014
Today, Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) commented
on the latest Azerbaijani aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Congressman Schiff said that "For two decades, the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh have lived with constant threats and sniper fire from
Azerbaijan, which seeks to reassert control over the overwhelmingly
Armenian population of the region. Last week, Azeri forces again attacked
across the Line of Contact, resulting in casualties on both sides. This
latest resort to violence must be condemned in the strongest terms, and
America should call upon the Azeri government to withdraw its forces and
renounce the use of snipers, especially against civilians, and all American
military assistance should be suspended until Azerbaijan does so.
"Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev plan
to meet starting tomorrow, but if their talks are to have any chance of
bearing fruit, President Aliyev is going to adopt a sharply different tone
from his remarks of late, when he asserted that Azerbaijan had the means to
destroy 'any facility in Nagorno-Karabakh' and again trumpeted his
country's military prowess.
"Since breaking free of a regime that encouraged violence and pogroms
against its Armenian Christian citizens, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh
have sought to build democracy and a market economy at home. Baku has
responded with an oil-boom funded military build-up and a campaign of
bellicose rhetoric and has so imbued its citizens with blood lust against
Armenians, that an Azeri army captain who beheaded a sleeping Armenian
colleague during a NATO Partnership for Peace exercise was treated as a
hero and promoted to major after his transfer from a Hungarian prison in
2012. Now is the time for the Minsk Group to assert itself in this
long-running and increasingly dangerous dispute. The people of
Nagorno-Karabakh have the right to determine their own future, free from
Azeri threats and violence, and they also have the right to go about their
lives without fear of being shot in the back by a sniper."
Congressman Sherman said: `I am deeply saddened by the recent reports of
escalated violence on the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia border and the
deaths of several Armenian and Azeri soldiers. I am taken aback by
Azerbaijan's attacks on Red Cross staff in a border village in Armenia and
Baku's decision to use sniper rifles in this conflict after several years
of respecting the decision by both sides to refrain from doing so. It is
my sincere hope that Azerbaijan will abstain from further sniper attacks
and instead engage in meaningful resolution talks with Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh.'
Available online at: http://bit.ly/1mqlleE