U.S. eyes to stop supporting de-mining in occupied Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh

By Trend

Despite the recent passage of the Cox Amendment by the House of Representatives to fund U.S. aid to the occupied Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh region, the U.S. administration is trying to end support for de-mining efforts, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) tweeted July 31.

Suren Sargsyan, director of the Armenian Center for American Studies, wrote on a Facebook page that the US government plans to cut funding for de-mining.

“This is a program funded by USAID,” he wrote. “It will have serious political consequences. This will become a political and legal precedent, the consequences of which we all know.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.