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Elin Suleymanov: â€œSome Americans also joined the Azerbaijani community in expressing their concern to the Ebell Theatreâ€™s celebration of â€œ20th anniversary of movement in Nagorno Karabakhâ€

02 May 2008 11:57 (UTC +04:00)

As you know, it was not only the Consulate but also many members of the Azerbaijani community in the US and people in Azerbaijan, who have protested against holding such an inappropriate celebration at the Ebell Theater. Importantly, some Americans also joined the Azerbaijani community in expressing their concern to the Theater’s managementâ€, Azerbaijanâ€™s Consul General to Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov told APAâ€™s US bureau.
â€œOf course, predictably, both the representatives of the US side and some others would say that Ebell is a private non-political institution and can hold any event. Still, this private institution holds a political event of a hostile nature for the Republic of Azerbaijan. In this case, this is not just a private matter. As I wrote in my letter, just imagine if we have similar celebration of something very painful for Americans and then just call it a private matterâ€, the Consul General said.
Elin Suleymanov considers that in addition to misrepresenting an illegal separatist entity, this, of course, is an unfriendly step towards Azerbaijan, a country, which is a friend and ally of America.
The Consul General said after they protested to the Ebell’s management, some Armenian media reacted very negatively to his letter.
â€œYet, they should also take a look at this celebration. How can one celebrate beginning of the conflict, which caused thousands of deaths on both sides and made more than a million people refugees. The conflict led to destruction, as a result of it the entire region has been negatively affected and Armenia is now an isolated state. Armenia depends on other states for its existence and its development has been slowed enormously in terms of economy and democratic development, something we all witnessed very vividly recently. Unfortunately, instead of trying to address these issues, members of the Armenian Diaspora are celebrating this conflict. In ethical terms, this is a very inappropriate celebrationâ€, he said.
Elin Suleymanov considers that instead of celebrating occupation and death of Azerbaijani and Armenian people, it would be much better to encourage a peaceful solution.
â€œThe Armenian media needs to focus on the damage this conflict caused Armenia instead of criticizing the letters of the Azerbaijani side. One day, we’ll resolve this conflict, hopefully by peaceful means. That would be a good reason to celebrate in many places, including Los Angelesâ€, he said.