Azerbaijan Sends Letter of Protest to US Congress on H.Res.252

Azerbaijan’s National Assembly (Milli Məclis) sent an appeal yesterday to the US. Congress regarding the adoption of H.Res.252 on the Armenian Genocide by the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

According to a number of Azerbaijani media, the appeal was prepared in a parliamentary working group headed by Samad Seyidov, chair of the Milli Məclis standing committee on international relations and inter-parliamentary relations.

In the letter, Azerbaijan expresses its regret on the adoption of the resolution with parliamentarians turning their attention to Armenian lobbying efforts toward recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s proposal to establish a joint commission of historians, and so on.

“This unfair judgment, which is apparent neglect to the historical realities and sacrifices the interests for the Armenian lobby, can be characterized as a step that could create new problems in Asia Minor and Southern Caucasus.

“We are faced with an attempt to turn remote a historical event, which up to present has not been completely investigated and has not been objectively appraised, into a subject of a political gamble to justify the groundless claims of the Armenian nationalists to the neighboring states,” reads the appeal in part, reports Azerbaijani news agency APA.

The letter also states that the judgment made by the congressional committee, by a co untry which is a OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, “hinders the attainment of peace in the region and can destroy the positive results, which have been reached till now through negotiations.”

The letter concludes by saying that the authors are sure this decision will be turned down by the US Congress, and “We hope that US government, which has an image of a democratic country, will do the utmost not to admit the passage [of H.Res.252], which might harm American-Turkish and American-Azerbaijani relations.”