Azerbaijan condemns California resolution on Karabakh

The resolution also calls into question the integrity of the senators who voted for it as they receive funding from Armenian diaspora groups, said Elman Abdullayev, head of the Foreign Ministry’s press service.  

“By voting for the resolution, the American senators in fact supported the occupation of Azerbaijani territory in violation of international law,” he said.

The California Senate adopted the resolution, urging the US administration to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state.

Armenia seized nearly 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, in a war after the Soviet breakup in 1991.

Over a million Azerbaijanis were forced to leave the territory in what Baku calls ethnic cleansing.

Major hostilities ended with a ceasefire in 1994 but no peace agreement has been signed.