Tweet
CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY'S RULES COMMITTEE CATERS TO ARMENIAN LOBBY
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 6 2014
6 May 2014, 18:40 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
California State Assembly's Rules Committee held a hearing on the
pro-Armenian resolution calling to recognize a separatist regime in
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on May 5.
The resolution (AJR 32) introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto at
the behest of the Armenian lobby. Gatto submitted the proposal to
California State Legislature on January 6.
If passed by both houses of the State Legislature, the resolution
would call on the U.S. government to recognize the puppet regime called
"NKR" which was installed on Azerbaijan's lands occupied by Armenia,
Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los-Angeles said.
Before the hearing started, many members of California's Azerbaijani
community held a protest action outside the State Capitol in Sacramento
against this biased and flawed resolution.
Azerbaijanis then packed the hearing room on the Capitol, hugely
outnumbering the Armenian participants.
The hearing started with remarks by Mike Gatto, followed by the
Armenian member of the Assembly Katcho Achadjian, who presented a
well distorted view of the conflict.
Gatto represents the Armenian-populated areas of the Los Angeles County
since 2010. Gatto has received tens of thousands in campaign donations
from the Armenian community since 2009, according to California
Secretary of State (http://www.sos.ca.gov) who is also responsible
for recording all political campaign contributions in the state.
Following Gatto's remarks the chair opened the floor for testimonies
from the Armenian side, who offered three presentations void of any
logic and content.
"In a nutshell, their main racist message could be summed up as
"Armenians are ancient Christians and Azerbaijanis are Muslims. So
whatever we do, you should support us," the Consulate General said.
After the Armenian testimonies ended, the Azerbaijani side presented
four testimonies.
Taking the floor first, the head of Azerbaijan's Mountainous Jewish
Community Milikh Yevdayev spoke of the strong traditions of tolerance
in Azerbaijan highlighting primarily the life of Azerbaijan's ancient
Jewish community, who, he said, lived in Azerbaijan since 2000 years
without any persecution or discrimination.
Recalling his countless trips to Nagorno-Karabakh during the Soviet
times, Yevdayev noted that never ever he witnessed any Armenian
wishing to get separated from Azerbaijan.
"Armenians enjoyed living in Azerbaijan - in this multi-ethnic and
tolerant society," he said.
Yevdayev further stressed that "despite much blood and tears shed,
military occupation and ethnic cleansing committed against Azerbaijan
by Armenia, today you can find over 25,000 Armenians still living
in Baku and other major cities of Azerbaijan, which speaks volumes
about the high level of tolerance of the Azerbaijani people."
At the end, he called on the Committee to reject the resolution.
Speaking at the hearing, the Azerbaijani-American Council President
Ismayil Rustamov stressed that so-called "NKR" had not been recognized
by the U.S. or any other country of the world. "So why in this case
would California need to do it?" he asked.
Highlighting Armenia's foreign policy, Rustamov said during the Crimea
crisis Armenia sided with countries such as North Korea, Syria and
Sudan. "Azerbaijan, however, has always been a reliable ally of the
U.S.," he said.
Following these remarks, Elnur Aydinov from Los Angeles told his and
his family's story as a victim of the ethnic cleansing carried out
by Armenia against its own Azerbaijani population, who before 1988
amounted to more than 350,000, and who were all expelled when the
conflict started.
The testimonies were concluded with a presentation by Tural
Badirkhanli, who said the resolution refers to the "national liberation
movement" in Nagorno-Karabakh and deliberately neglects to mention
how this so-called "movement" was carried out in reality.
"Based on facts, I will tell you how: through many horrible war crimes
that Armenia committed against the Azerbaijani civilians," he said.
Badirkhanli broadly informed the audience about the Khojaly Massacre
which was committed by Armenian armed forces against the Azerbaijani
civilians in 1992 and was called by Human Rights Watch the "largest
massacre in the conflict.
He concluded his testimony by urging the legislators not to "reward"
Armenia for the Khojaly Massacre and other war crimes it committed.
Taking the floor, Assemblyman Rocky Chavez expressed his opposition
to the resolution, by stating that the Legislature should be very
careful with international affairs.
Referring to the Azerbaijani testimonies on ethnic cleansing by Armenia
against Azerbaijanis, he implied that the self-determination cannot
be achieved with ethnic cleansing.
Chavez also mentioned that if applied everywhere around the globe,
the principle of self-determination can precipitate grave consequences
for the world.
Speaking afterwards, Armenian member of the Committee Adrin Nazarian,
pro-Armenian members Scott Wilk and Cheryl Brown, who illegally
visited Nagorno-Karabakh last year, offered extremely distorted and
biased views on the conflict.
"Highlighting only the needs of Karabakh's Armenians for life in
dignity, they did not even consider it necessary to touch on human
sufferings that over a million Azerbaijani refugees had to endure
due to ethnic cleansing and occupation by Armenia. They completely
ignored the vast body of evidence presented to them on the conflict
by the Azerbaijani side and concentrated instead on the Armenian
propaganda," the Consulate General said.
Following the remarks, the chair put the resolution to vote that
passed 9 to 1.
Now, the Armenian lobby has announced that the resolution will be
considered on the Assembly floor on May 8, which is not a randomly
chosen date.
This date marks 22 years of occupation of Azerbaijan's ancient Shusha
city.The 1992 occupation was carried out with brutal ethnic cleansing
and resulted in the killing of hundreds of Azerbaijanis.
"So with the passage of the resolution on this day, the Armenian lobby
wants to "celebrate" this "victory", which was achieved at the expense
of many innocent Azerbaijani lives and ongoing suffering of refugees
from Shusha and other occupied regions. That's simply immoral and
disgraceful," the Consulate General said.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/66779.html
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 6 2014
6 May 2014, 18:40 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
California State Assembly's Rules Committee held a hearing on the
pro-Armenian resolution calling to recognize a separatist regime in
the occupied territories of Azerbaijan on May 5.
The resolution (AJR 32) introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto at
the behest of the Armenian lobby. Gatto submitted the proposal to
California State Legislature on January 6.
If passed by both houses of the State Legislature, the resolution
would call on the U.S. government to recognize the puppet regime called
"NKR" which was installed on Azerbaijan's lands occupied by Armenia,
Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los-Angeles said.
Before the hearing started, many members of California's Azerbaijani
community held a protest action outside the State Capitol in Sacramento
against this biased and flawed resolution.
Azerbaijanis then packed the hearing room on the Capitol, hugely
outnumbering the Armenian participants.
The hearing started with remarks by Mike Gatto, followed by the
Armenian member of the Assembly Katcho Achadjian, who presented a
well distorted view of the conflict.
Gatto represents the Armenian-populated areas of the Los Angeles County
since 2010. Gatto has received tens of thousands in campaign donations
from the Armenian community since 2009, according to California
Secretary of State (http://www.sos.ca.gov) who is also responsible
for recording all political campaign contributions in the state.
Following Gatto's remarks the chair opened the floor for testimonies
from the Armenian side, who offered three presentations void of any
logic and content.
"In a nutshell, their main racist message could be summed up as
"Armenians are ancient Christians and Azerbaijanis are Muslims. So
whatever we do, you should support us," the Consulate General said.
After the Armenian testimonies ended, the Azerbaijani side presented
four testimonies.
Taking the floor first, the head of Azerbaijan's Mountainous Jewish
Community Milikh Yevdayev spoke of the strong traditions of tolerance
in Azerbaijan highlighting primarily the life of Azerbaijan's ancient
Jewish community, who, he said, lived in Azerbaijan since 2000 years
without any persecution or discrimination.
Recalling his countless trips to Nagorno-Karabakh during the Soviet
times, Yevdayev noted that never ever he witnessed any Armenian
wishing to get separated from Azerbaijan.
"Armenians enjoyed living in Azerbaijan - in this multi-ethnic and
tolerant society," he said.
Yevdayev further stressed that "despite much blood and tears shed,
military occupation and ethnic cleansing committed against Azerbaijan
by Armenia, today you can find over 25,000 Armenians still living
in Baku and other major cities of Azerbaijan, which speaks volumes
about the high level of tolerance of the Azerbaijani people."
At the end, he called on the Committee to reject the resolution.
Speaking at the hearing, the Azerbaijani-American Council President
Ismayil Rustamov stressed that so-called "NKR" had not been recognized
by the U.S. or any other country of the world. "So why in this case
would California need to do it?" he asked.
Highlighting Armenia's foreign policy, Rustamov said during the Crimea
crisis Armenia sided with countries such as North Korea, Syria and
Sudan. "Azerbaijan, however, has always been a reliable ally of the
U.S.," he said.
Following these remarks, Elnur Aydinov from Los Angeles told his and
his family's story as a victim of the ethnic cleansing carried out
by Armenia against its own Azerbaijani population, who before 1988
amounted to more than 350,000, and who were all expelled when the
conflict started.
The testimonies were concluded with a presentation by Tural
Badirkhanli, who said the resolution refers to the "national liberation
movement" in Nagorno-Karabakh and deliberately neglects to mention
how this so-called "movement" was carried out in reality.
"Based on facts, I will tell you how: through many horrible war crimes
that Armenia committed against the Azerbaijani civilians," he said.
Badirkhanli broadly informed the audience about the Khojaly Massacre
which was committed by Armenian armed forces against the Azerbaijani
civilians in 1992 and was called by Human Rights Watch the "largest
massacre in the conflict.
He concluded his testimony by urging the legislators not to "reward"
Armenia for the Khojaly Massacre and other war crimes it committed.
Taking the floor, Assemblyman Rocky Chavez expressed his opposition
to the resolution, by stating that the Legislature should be very
careful with international affairs.
Referring to the Azerbaijani testimonies on ethnic cleansing by Armenia
against Azerbaijanis, he implied that the self-determination cannot
be achieved with ethnic cleansing.
Chavez also mentioned that if applied everywhere around the globe,
the principle of self-determination can precipitate grave consequences
for the world.
Speaking afterwards, Armenian member of the Committee Adrin Nazarian,
pro-Armenian members Scott Wilk and Cheryl Brown, who illegally
visited Nagorno-Karabakh last year, offered extremely distorted and
biased views on the conflict.
"Highlighting only the needs of Karabakh's Armenians for life in
dignity, they did not even consider it necessary to touch on human
sufferings that over a million Azerbaijani refugees had to endure
due to ethnic cleansing and occupation by Armenia. They completely
ignored the vast body of evidence presented to them on the conflict
by the Azerbaijani side and concentrated instead on the Armenian
propaganda," the Consulate General said.
Following the remarks, the chair put the resolution to vote that
passed 9 to 1.
Now, the Armenian lobby has announced that the resolution will be
considered on the Assembly floor on May 8, which is not a randomly
chosen date.
This date marks 22 years of occupation of Azerbaijan's ancient Shusha
city.The 1992 occupation was carried out with brutal ethnic cleansing
and resulted in the killing of hundreds of Azerbaijanis.
"So with the passage of the resolution on this day, the Armenian lobby
wants to "celebrate" this "victory", which was achieved at the expense
of many innocent Azerbaijani lives and ongoing suffering of refugees
from Shusha and other occupied regions. That's simply immoral and
disgraceful," the Consulate General said.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/66779.html