To The Honorable Michael R. Pompeo

Dear Mr. Pompeo:

I am writing on behalf of the constituents of the Azerbaijan Society of America, the first Diaspora organization in USA representing Azerbaijani Americans, founded 1957.  We are aware that you will be meeting with your counterparts from Azerbaijan and Armenia to help resolve the current conflict in Azerbaijan between ethnic separatist Armenians and the Azerbaijani military.  Azerbaijan has waited patiently for 26 years since the signing of the cease fire agreement of 1994, and the fruitless efforts of the so-called Minsk Group to resolve this conflict equitably. 

The four UN resolutions (list them by number) issued shortly after the cease fire was ignored by the ethnic Armenian occupiers of Azerbaijani land, internationally recognized as a lawful part of the sovereign nation of Azerbaijan.  Ultimately convinced by the lack of any action toward real resolution - an action which must begin by evacuating all hostile military personnel and their weapons of war from such internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan - the leadership of Azerbaijan made the unavoidable decision to proceed to liberate their lands by military means.  There is no other way to enable the 600,000 estimated Azerbaijanis who were forced out of their ancestral homelands by the hostile forces of ethnic Armenians living in this territory, to be able to peacefully and safely return home to begin the long process of rebuilding their lives.

Azerbaijanis, like people everywhere, have the right to live in peace and safety on the land they were born and raised in, and until Azerbaijan achieves the goal of securing their land, there will not be peace, safety, security and comfort for the displaced Azerbaijanis of this region of Azerbaijan.

Sincerely,

Azerbaijan Society of America