October 2, 2001 - 20:56 AMT
ANCA CALLS ON U.S. PRESIDENT TO REFUSE TO INCLUDE AZERBAIJAN IN ANTITERRORIST COALITION AS TIES OF BAKU WITH BIN LADEN ARE PROVED
Chairman of Armenian National Committee of America Kenneth Hachikian addressed a letter to U.S. President George Bush, in which he calls to refuse from pressure on the Congress aiming at repeal of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. (As it is known, the Section prohibits the U.S. Administration to render aid to Azerbaijan until it raises blockade of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.) Hachikian stresses U.S. should not allow Azerbaijan to condition its assistance in antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan by repeal of Section 907. Moreover, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America considers inclusion of Azerbaijan in antiterrorist coalition dangerous, as it is practically proved that this country has ties with international terrorist Osama bin Laden. To support his words, Hachikian refers to the conclusion arrived at by Yossef Bodansky, director of the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Terrorism, who stated that Azerbaijan supported international terrorists trained by bin Laden and accepted "large quantities of cash from diverse terrorist sources." Hachikian asserts better solution would be to ask Azerbaijan to close down the terrorists' bases and end the economic blockade of Armenia.