Mayor William Molinari                                                                      Nov 08, 2005

1600 W.Beverly Blvd.

Montebello , CA 90640

Honorable Mayor Molinari:

     We, the World Azerbaijanis Congress, WAC, have been extremely enraged regarding the recent Montebello city officials’ decision to choose Khankendi – the city ethnically cleansed from the Azerbaijanis – as a sister city.

     Please, let me remind you that Azerbaijan has been a victim of Armenian armed aggression for nearly 15 years that resulted in the occupation of not only Nogorno Karabagh, but seven additional regions of Azerbaijan (almost 20% of its territory), creating a million

refugees and internally displaced Azerbaijanis. In 1993 the UN adopted four Security Council resolutions demanding the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories. NATO, OSCE and other international organizations also repeatedly called for the restoration of Azerbaijan ’s territorial integrity. Armenia ignored all of the appeals.

     In January 2005, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution clearly stating that “considerable parts of the territory of Azerbaijan are still occupied by Armenian forces and separatist forces are still in control of the Nogorno

Karabagh region” and urged the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from all Azerbaijani territories.

     I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the State Department’s February 7, 2005 Fact Sheet on this issue states: “The United States does not recognize Nagorno Karabagh as an independent country, and its leadership is not recognized internationally

or by the United States . The United States supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan .

     As you are well aware, Azerbaijan is a key partner in the war against terrorism and an important source of energy resources for the U.S. Azerbaijan has worked with the U.S. to detain and incarcerate international terrorists, deployed peacekeeping troops to Kosovo and Afghanistan , and as one of the original Coalition of the willing countries was the first

predominantly Muslim country to send peacekeepers to Iraq .

     Honorable Mayor, we instantly urge you and Montebello ’s Sister City Committee to reconsider your position on this matter in order not to let Armenian lobby in U.S. to give

additional push to the separatist intentions in Nogorno Karabagh.

With best regards,

Reza Kheshti

President of the Board of the Directors