Hawaii State House Speaker apologizes for resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh

Baku. 1 April. REPORT.AZ/ At the behest of the Armenian lobby, the Hawaii State House of Representatives passed on March 29, 2016 a fast-tracked and totally flawed and biased resolution H.R. 167 regarding the illegal regime called “nkr”, which has been established on Azerbaijan’s territory, unlawfully occupied and ethnically cleansed by Armenia in the early 1990s.

Report was told in the press service of the Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles, speaker of the Hawaii State House of Representatives issued today a memorandum, expressing regrets and apologizing for the resolution.

In the memorandum, which was sent to Azerbaijan’s Consulate General in Los Angeles, Speaker Souki notes that whereas every resolution involving foreign affairs should be sent to a committee to receive public input, the resolution H.R. 167 “was presented as a floor presentation – a purely ceremonial event meant to congratulate individuals and organizations”.

“Therefore I sincerely apologize for the fact that the resolution did not have a chance to be vetted by our Committee process before action was taken on it, and I intend to adjust our internal policies to prevent a similar occurrence,” the Speaker writes.

He mentions the efforts by the U.S. to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and notes that the resolution H.R. 167 “does not have the effect of law in any way”. The Speaker also “sincerely apologizes if our ceremonial event” is construed “to express an opinion on the conflict, as there was simply no information gathered by the House sufficient to make an informed opinion.”

Speaker Souki further notes that “I can safely speak on behalf of the members of the House that each member hopes that the strong relations of friendship between Azerbaijan and the United States will continue to grow and strengthen over the years.”

The Hawaii House Speaker concludes his memorandum by stating that “I hope you can understand the unfortunate circumstances that led us to this point and I sincerely apologize for any unintended offense to your government or to the people of Azerbaijan.”

It should be mentioned that around three weeks ago – on March 10, 2016 two similar resolutions had been introduced on the so-called “nkr” at the Hawaii State Senate at the behest of the Armenian lobby. As a result of the outreach and education provided by Azerbaijan’s Consulate General in Los Angeles, the Senate leadership issued a public statement on March 11 vehemently rejecting the said resolutions and expressing support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Embarrassed by this fiasco, the Armenian lobby chose this time the Hawaii State House by clandestinely introducing a fast-tracked flawed resolution, thus manipulating the House members into believing that they were passing a purely ceremonial resolution, which actually resulted in their taking a biased position that totally contradicts the U.S. federal government’s official foreign policy. However, with the afore-mentioned memorandum issued by the Hawaii House Speaker, the Armenian lobby failed again.