Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani diaspora has condemned the approval by a US congressional panel of financial assistance to the Armenia-backed separatist regime operating in Azerbaijan’s occupied Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh region in 2011.
The Azerbaijani-American Council and Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA) have said in a statement that the $10 million allocation to the self-proclaimed republic by the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee contradicts the stance of the United States, which recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, and damages Washington’s image as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper Garabagh conflict.
The Council and USAN said the measure had been approved under pressure from the Armenian community in the U.S.
"At a time of economic rehabilitation and unprecedented rises in unemployment rates in the U.S., American legislators actually rewarded the puppet regime that is responsible for ethnic cleansing and the suffering of 800,000 Azerbaijanis who have been unable to return home."
The statement said the allocation of assistance to Garabagh separatists also deals a blow upon US interests in the vital region, given that American politicians consider Azerbaijan’s territory as one of the key components of successful operations in Afghanistan.
The Azerbaijani community called upon US lawmakers not to sacrifice the country’s interests under the influence of ethnic lobbies.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Though the separatist regime in Upper Garabagh declared so-called independence at the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991, this "independence", which blatantly tramples on international law, has not been recognized by the world community.*