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Azerbaijani and Turkish Diaspora in US starts campaign against usage of â€œpeople of Nagorno-Karabakhâ€ term by White House

27 June 2011 10:49 (UTC +04:00)

â€œThe term used by the White House Office of the Press Secretary in its June 23 statement, and indirectly attributed to President Obamaâ€™s phone conversation with Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, contravenes the 1992 Baker Rules, State Department policy and all preceding and current Administrations, the UN Security Council resolutions, OSCE position, as well as facts on the groundâ€, say the letters. â€œIt also contradicts simple logic - to call two Presidents, but address three peopleâ€.

The authors remind that, there are only two people locked in the conflict over NK region of Azerbaijan - the Armenian and Azerbaijani people. There are no "Nagorno-Karabakh people", just like there is no such recognized independent entity. â€œThe 120,000 Armenian and 46,000 Azerbaijani communities of NK, like the 600,000 Azerbaijanis from the entire Karabakh region, are not "people of Nagorno-Karabakh", but remain Armenian or Azerbaijani ethnically, and Azerbaijani by citizenshipâ€.

â€œOffice of the Press Secretaryâ€™s usage of ambiguous terminology in regards to Armenia’s aggression and occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan can lead to confusion and send mixed signals to the scholarly community and general public. It will also lead to distortions by the Armenia government to misrepresent the White House statement as some tacit recognition of, and legitimacy for, the criminal regime occupying this de jure part of Azerbaijan, a total of 16% of territory, for the past 20 years, that displaced 600,000 Azerbaijanis of Karabakhâ€, the letters say.

The Azerbaijani-Americans seek clarification from the Office of the Press Secretary, correction to the White House website and Federal Register, as well as a more careful usage of such politically and legally loaded terminology when addressing the Nagorno-Karabakh occupation by Armenia