Asks for Outline of “Serious Repercussions” against Azerbaijan in Case it Restarts its War against Karabagh
WASHINGTON—House Foreign Affairs Committee member Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today to address the Azerbaijani government’s threats and aggression against Armenia and Karabagh and, more specifically, to identify the “serious repercussions” that Azerbaijan would face from the United States if it renewed its aggression against Nagorno Karabagh, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
The question came during Secretary Clinton’s three-hour testimony before the Foreign Affairs panel earlier today. Secretary Clinton will be testifying again tomorrow regarding U.S. foreign aid priorities before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee of Foreign Operations.
As part of a series of questions he posed on issues ranging from China to the Middle East and the Caucasus, Rep. Sherman asked: “As to the Caucasus, the Defense Minister of Azerbaijan stated recently that his country is seriously preparing for war. I hope you can outline for the record the serious repercussions that Azerbaijan would face if it renewed the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.” Secretary Clinton is expected to respond in writing to this and other questions posed by members of the Committee.
“The Azerbaijani government is arming itself to the teeth and openly threatening to use its arsenal of advanced weaponry to restart the Caucasus war it launched and then lost nearly two decades ago,” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the ANCA. “We should, as Americans, be at least as clear in opposing Baku’s march toward war and in laying out—in stark terms—the sanctions and other costs we would impose upon the Aliyev regime and the Azerbaijani government should they decide to restart hostilities.”
Rep. Sherman offered his question amid a growing tide of Azerbaijani threats and outright acts of aggression that have left some 30 dead along the Nagorno Karabagh Republic – Azerbaijan border over the past two years. Azerbaijani Defense Minister Abiyev’s military budget has increased to over $3 billion in 2011, with reports emerging of an additional $1.36 billion to be allocated for local arms production, which would make Azerbaijan’s military budget second only to Russia within the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Watch the brief video online from the hearing here.
An updated timeline of Azerbaijani aggression and threats against Armenia and Karabagh is available here.
Rep. Sherman’s inquiry comes just one day after a Congressional Commemoration of the Azerbaijani pogroms against Armenians in Sumgait and Baku, during which Congressman Sherman was joined by Nagorno Karabagh Republic Foreign Minister Georgi Petrossian and Congressional Armenian Caucus colleagues Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Elliot Engel (D-N.Y.) in marking this solemn occasion. In his remarks, the Foreign Minister explained that the Sumgait massacres in 1988 were the beginnings of broad ethnic cleansing efforts in that the Azerbaijani government intended to extend to Karabagh as well. “Every person, every nation, has the right to live free; every person, every nation has the right to defend itself,” noted Petrossian. “The people of Karabagh asserted that right—that God-given right—and will never give it up.”
FEW ,VERY FEW COMPREHEND WHAT POWER INSTIGATES AND PUSHES THE AZERBAIJANI RHETORIC TOWARDS ITS NEIGHBOUR, ARMENIA AND MORE IMPORTANTLY ARTSAKH-NAGORNYI KARABAGH-AN AREA THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN POPULATED BY ARMENIANS.
FACT OF THE MATTER IS WHEN AZERBAIJAN COMMENCED ITS AGGRESSIVE ETHNIC CLEANSING ACTS IN SUMGAIT AND BAKU,AS A CONSEQUENCE OF NK DECLARED INDEPENDENCE ,AFTER A WAR FORCED UPON IT BY AZERBAIJAN,LATTER LOSING IT ,ALL WAS CLEAR THAT GREAT TURKEY HAD BEEN ALERTED THAT THIS TIME OVER SHE COJULD NOT ANY MORE TUCK UNDER THE RUG THE LONG NEAR FORGOTTEN ARMENIAN QUESSTION.RATHER, AN ENORMOUS ATTROCITY IT HAD COMMITTED ON ITS OWN SUBJECTS IN 1915/23.THENCE, IF ARMENIAN POPULATED ARTSAKH,NAGORNYI KARABAGH HAD FINALLY SHAKEN AWAY THE IMPOSED AZERBAIJANI RULE ON IT, ….N E X T IN LINE WOULD BE OTHER ARMENIAN PROVINCES THAT THE TURCO AZERIS HAD SOMEHOW BROUGHT UNDERTHEIR RULE, SUCH AS N A K H I J E V A N , SHAHUMIAN AND ABOVE ALL KARS ARDAHAN KARIN AND THEN SOME. Ç
THEREFORE SHE HAD TO SOMEHOW HAVE THE ARMENIANS IN NK SUBDUED AGAIN TO THEM OR AT THE VERY LEAST UNDER SOME SUCH OFFER AS THEY KEPT REPEATING F F U L L AUTONOMY, BUT UNDER THEIR R U L E.
OBVIOUSLY THEIR DIPLOMACY HAD RUN ITS COURSE AND TEHY WOULD HAVE NO OTHER WAY BUT TO BEGIN THE PARROT LIKE RHETORIC BY THE ALIEV CLAN AND GOVT.CLEARLY SUPPORTED BY GREAT TURKEY.
THIS IS WHY ARMENIANS MUST NOT SEPERATE NK-ARTSAKH ISSUE FROM THAT OF THE WESTERN ARMENIA AND NAKHIJEVAN ISSUES. THESE INDEED GO HAND IN HAND ALSO WITH THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION AND RESTITUTION/REPARATIONS ISSUES. NO MATTER HOW THRY TURN IT AROUND IT WILL ALWAYS BE RELATED.
R E L A T E D !!!!!!!
Every person, every nation, has the right to live free; every person, every nation has the right to defend itself,” noted Petrossian. “The people of Karabagh asserted that right—that God-given right—and will never give it up
AMEN TO THAT… that is absolutely correct….. THE NK WON the war.. So stop crying Azerbajian and take this defeat as a lesson and move on… YOU LOST..Get over yourselves…..
Gayane