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US based Los Angeles Times disregards Azerbaijanâ€™s territorial integrity

09 February 2010 08:14 (UTC +04:00)

According to APAâ€™s Washington DC correspondent, the newspaper is planning to hold a Travel and Adventure show, where â€œthe Republics of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) will be represented.

The tourism offices of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh will share a large â€œWelcome to Armeniaâ€ booth in the Exhibition Hall of the Travel Show on December 13â€.

The show will feature spectacular photography of the people, vistas, and historic sites of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the newspaper said.

The Azerbaijani Diaspora to US is already aware of that act of disrespect and expressed its deep concern about it. US Azerbaijanis sent a letter to Los Angeles Times saying that they urge the show holders and the newspaper to stop this outrageous misuse of Terms of Use and the international law. US Azerbaijanis stated it is absolutely unacceptable for any exhibitor to promote any part of land, culture, and heritage that does not belong to them.

â€œAs is well known, Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan has been occupied by the Armenian military since the early 1994, but has always been legally recognized by the UN, U.S. government and the entire international community as part of Azerbaijan. All Azerbaijanis around the world, including our own Azerbaijani-American community in the US, as well as the government of Azerbaijan, strongly object to any report, incident or event, where the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan over Karabakh is somehow misrepresented and compromised. As a community, we have staged boycotts and protest marches throughout cities in US to drive the point home, whilst the Azerbaijani government is known for denying visas and â€œblacklistingâ€ known violators and alerting Interpol to assist in the apprehension of such individualsâ€ â€“ says the letter.

According to Azerbaijani Diaspora, Armenians should promote tourism to Armenia only, not encouraging illegal tourism to Azerbaijanâ€™s occupied lands. â€œAs a community, we strongly support U.S. governmentâ€™s position on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and are of the opinion that all U.S. legal entities must adhere to the governmentâ€™s position. There is still time to prevent this outrage from taking placeâ€, - they said.