Petition on Karabakh at White House website collects required signatures
By Sara Rajabova
The collection of signatures for a petition posted on the White House website to recognize the fact of long-standing occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories by Armenian armed forces has been completed.
The required 100,000 signatures were collected as of 11:23 a.m. on Tuesday, February 19.
The 'We the People' petition aims to draw the attention of President Barack Obama's administration to the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories and collect signatures for the US president's statement on the issue.
It was necessary to collect 100,000 signatures by February 23, 2013 in order to submit the petition for discussion at the White House.
Besides, recently another petition, which urged the US administration's recognition of the Khojaly genocide committed by Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijani civilians during a war in the 1990s, was completed ahead of time.
The campaign, which was launched on the eve of the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, seeks to attract the world's attention to the fact of mass killings of Azerbaijanis committed on February 26, 1992 and achieve its international recognition.
Also, one more petition, which calls upon US President Barack Obama to commemorate and recognize Soykırım -- the Muslim Genocide of 1914-1922 in Anatolia and the Caucasus -- alongside his annual April 24 message commemorating the alleged Armenian suffering during World War I has been posted on the White House website.
According to the petition, in 1914-22, the armed groups of Armenian Dashnak and Hunchak parties and Armenian volunteers serving in the Russian, Greek and French armies carried out systematic extermination of Turks, Azerbaijanis and Kurds in Anatolia and the Caucasus. 523,955 Muslim civilians were identified as victims, excluding those missing or buried in mass graves. Western scholars estimated that up to 2.5 million Muslims perished in the massacres. Armenians loyal to the Ottoman state were also targeted by the Armenian nationalists.
Those willing to participate in the campaigns should go to: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pay-close-attention-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-20-azerbaijan-territory-was-occupied-armenian-military/mkKddcRt
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/issue-proclamation-commemorating-and-recognizing-war-crime-khojaly-massacre-and-its-victims/W8BbDqYx
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/commemorate-and-recognize-soyk%C4%B1r%C4%B1m-%E2%80%93-1914-1922-muslim-genocide-anatolia-and-caucasus/ZSFLZGmD
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since the lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Peace talks brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its withdrawal from the occupied Azerbaijani lands.