Washington briefing: Caucus co-chairs reiterate call for “international recognition” on Karabakh jubilee

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Friday September 04, 2009

The U.S. Capitol. Wikipedia

Washington - "We continue to join you in the call for formal international recognition of your independence," Reps.  Frank Pallone (D.-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R,-Ill.) declared in a September 2 letter addressed to Nagorno-Karabakh's President Bako Sahakian on the republic's Independence Day.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was declared on September 2, 1991, with its independence receiving overwhelming support in a referendum held in subsequent December.

In a recent interview with the Armenian Reporter, Mr. Pallone had expressed his willingness to work toward U.S. recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, as he also acknowledged the task would be difficult to accomplish.

The U.S. government "has to realize that according to the Soviet legal framework, Nagorno-Karabakh had self-government and certain rights, including holding a referendum and becoming an independent country, which is what had happened," Mr. Pallone noted in the interview.