Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman has said some people are distorting the wording of a project that seeks to aid victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, put for discussion in the U.S. Senate appropriations subcommittee.

Hikmet Hajiyev said the issue of providing Congressional assistance to the victims of Nagorno Karabakh conflict has been discussed for long time, but the U.S. side has always been notified of Azerbaijan's concern and outrage in this regard.

"The phrase 'Victims of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict' grammatically and semantically unites all victims of the conflict, including Azerbaijanis. No one can reject the fact that it is Azerbaijanis who suffered more from this conflict. Budget allocations, envisaged under this point are used only for humanitarian mine-action,” Hajiyev said.

He stressed that therefore, the Armenian side mobilizing its powerful diaspora in the United States seeks to change the wording to read 'Victims in Nagorno- Karabakh,' as opposed to victims of the conflict.

“Those who know English clearly understand this difference. In general, over the past few years the U.S. Congress has not allocated any special aid to the so-called 'victims of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict',” Hajiyev said.

He went on to say that the document referred to in the article is just a draft of the appropriations subcommittee of the U.S. Senate for 2016 and this issue is not on the agenda of the House of Representatives.

"The final decision on the project will be adopted after discussions in both houses", Hajiyev said.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said the notion that assistance is allocated only to the Armenians is a lie. He said the assistance will be provided to all those who was a victim of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including Azerbaijanis.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a conflict that emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Following the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the separatist regime was established in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh regime.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented any of the four U.N. Security Council resolutions urging a pullout from its neighboring country's territories.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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