March 18, 2024

Atif Ozcelik Clive

On behalf of 400,000 Azeri-Americans, I urge the USG to use its influence and take serious steps to enforce the UN SC resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 1993 and the UN General Assembly resolution A RES 48 114. These resolutions call for immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces of Armenia in Azerbaijan’s territories.

Twenty-five years ago, Armenia waged a war against the people of Azerbaijan in the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan. The ethnic Azeri population of Nagorno-Karabakh region and other seven districts of Azerbaijan, numbering close to 800,000, were ethnically cleansed fr-om the occupied territories.

May 8 marks the 25th anniversary of destruction of the historic town of Shusha, which was the centerpiece of a vibrant Azerbaijani classical music scene and home to the first opera in the Middle East. It was renowned for its musicians, composers, and singers. Now it lays in waste, a victim of Armenian destruction, occupation, and systematic ethnic cleansing. Until 1992, Shusha, the most important city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, was 92 percent Azerbaijani, while the Shusha County was 98 percent Azerbaijani. The occupation of Shusha followed the massacre of 613 Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian troops in the town of Khojaly just two months earlier.

On behalf of Azerbaijani-Americans, I implore you to do whatever is necessary to move this situation along to its rightful resolution within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan which includes:

1] enforcing the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions

2] removing all Armenian military forces illegally stationed in Azerbaijan

3] allowing the return of Azerbaijani displaced persons back to their homes

4] ceasing the Armenian blockade of Nakhchivan, the Azerbaijani exclave region

5] returning all POWs and MIA, Justice and fairness should be restored!