"Armenians have demolished and looted more than 700 Azerbaijani settlements" HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH \ HELSINKI

"Armenians have demolished and looted more than 700 Azerbaijani settlements"

TO: Rep. Frank Pallone US House of Representatives Washington, D.C. January 29, 2003 Congressman Pallone: The publicity given by the Armenian-American channels to your letters addressed to the President of Azerbaijan and dated January 8 and January 13 drove me to write you. I have no illusions that you may want to consider reality, since I well understand the motivation behind your indiscriminate advocacy of the "Armenian cause", as well as your long-standing anti-Azerbaijani position, of which the two letters are yet another proof. Your bias is also confirmed by the fact that not even once have you mentioned in all these years the press-documented cases of Armenian massacres on Azerbaijani civilians, perpetrated throughout decades, like the bloodbath of Khojaly in February of 1992. I realize and respect that a member of Congress can at times do things that are not quite in line with the policy of the US Administration. Yet, the approaches contained in your letters are outrageous. As if it is not enough that you’ve shown such a disrespect to the sovereignty of my nation by visiting portion of the country without consent of its Government, you have also done so in an attempt to legalize an obvious case of aggressive separatism. While advocating the need to preserve and protect Armenian cultural heritage, you seem to consciously omit the fact that it was the Armenian side that demolished and looted more than 700 Azerbaijani settlements altogether, destroying a total of 4366 objects of social infrastructure, 1145 nurseries and kindergartens, 1831 cinemas, 982 libraries, 693 secondary schools, 652 medical units and hospitals, 44 temples and 31 mosques. State Department’s 2002 Religious Freedom Report indicates that in the Armenian-occupied territories of Azerbaijan "those mosques that have not been destroyed are not functioning." Do you think that those were not precious to my people? Or is it your position to argue that the cultural heritage of the Armenians is somehow more valuable to the mankind than that of Azerbaijanis and, as such, the only one worth protection? Congressman: The Pallone politician It is not my point to trade accusations, but I sincerely wish to believe that a US law-maker should rise above petty considerations of ethnic politics which so far have done nothing but damage to the chances of the sides in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict to get closer to a fair and lasting settlement. One has to realize that such a settlement can be reached only through restoring territorial integrity of my country. I do not think that your continuous efforts to distort my Government’s position and attempts to hide Armenia’s unjustifiable actions behind democratic rhetoric can change anything about the fact that it is Armenia which committed armed aggression and still occupies, by force of arms, 20% of Azerbaijan. These hostile actions resulted in almost one million of refugees and IDPs in my country. This is the reality, which is recognized by the international community, including Government of the United States. Sincerely, Hafiz Pashayev Ambassador Republic of Azerbaijan Washington, D.C. Holdwater: Not incidentally, the last name of Frank Pallone, the U.S. Congressman firmly in the pockets of the Armenian-American lobby and community, rhymes with "baloney."

Treatment of Azerbaijani P.O.W.s

 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH \ HELSINKI

MARCH 2, 1994
PRESIDENT LEVON TER-PETROSSIAN
MARSHAL BAGRAMIAN PROSPECT,26
375019 YEREVAN
BY FAX:52-15-81

DEAR PRESIDENT TER-PETROSSIAN,

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH\HELSINKI (Formerly Helsinki Watch) is the largest human rights organisation in the United States. We have
closely followed the Armenian massacre of the Azeri people in
Nagorno Karabakh, and have published two reports on violations
of the Geneva Conventions.

I am writing you to express our organisation's deep concern
about the deaths of Azerbaijani prisoners of war in Armenia.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the
following men were shot to death in an Armenian detention camp
in Sritak in late January or early February:

Rustam Ramazan-oglu Agaev, (b. ?), from Masalin District
Elman Mamed-oglu Akhmedov, b. 1961,from Yevlakh District
Elshan Hussein-oglu Akhmedov, b.1974, from Saatlin District
Bakhram AKIF-oglu Giiasov, b. 1972,from Siazan
FAIG Gabil-oglu Guliev, b.1969,from Baku
Enver Asker-oglu Jafarov, b.1972,from Sumgait
Eldar Shahbaba-oglu Mamedov, b.1966,from Baku
Girshad Kniaz-oglu Mamedov, b.1974 from Yevlakh

I thank you for your attention to this matter and look forward
to learning the results of the investigation.

Yours sincerely,
Jeri Laber
Executive Director
TEL(212)972-8400,FAX(212)
972-0905,EMAIL;hrwatchnycigc.apc.org.
1522 K STREET,NW,H910,WASHINGTON,DC 20005-1202,TEL(202)371-6592,
FAX(202)371-0124,EMAIL,hrwatchdc igc apc.org
90 BOROUGH HIGH STREET,LONDON UK SE1 ILL,TEL(71)378-8008,FAX (71)
378-8029, EMAIL:hrwatchuk gn apc org
MOSCOW, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, TEL and FAX(7095)265-4448
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