UNITED STATES DIPLOMAT IN BAKU STATES THAT WASHINGTON WILL NOT RECOGNIZE UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN KARABAKH

According to a April 11th report in the Azeri Trend News Agency, Jonathan Henick of the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Baku has declared that the United States will not recognize presidential elections scheduled to take place in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) on July 19, 2007

Mr. Henick (see photo) allegedly stated that the United States continues its policy of not recognizing the legitimacy of the NKR and views it as Azeri territory "occupied" by Armenian forces.

In a related matter, news has surfaced regarding the plans of "SEMA Associates", a U.S.-based private company to draw up an urban revitalization scheme for the town of Sushi in the NKR.

It appears that Baku, after hearing of the actions of SEMA, protested to the U.S. Embassy in Baku. In response, Jonathan Henick commented that the U.S. has nothing to do with the actions of its country's citizens or private companies.

And finally, according to TODAY.AZ (an Azeri on-line news service), a group calling itself the "Public Union of the Azeri Community of Nagorno-Karabakh", has sent a letter to various OSCE officials protesting the actions of the SEMA company. It goes on to say that 547 architectural, 205 archaeological and over 900 libraries have been destroyed by Armenian forces in Karabakh.