YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–According to the Noyan Tapan News agency–a representative of the United States Embassy in Yerevan told Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty that the Azeri government paid Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN) an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for an anti-Armenian speech he delivered to the House on Thursday–February 17.
A member of the Committee on International Relations–Burton told members of Congress–"For years a number of distinguished Members of this House have come to the Floor of this Chamber every April to commemorate the so-called Armenian Genocide–the exact details of which are still very much under debate today almost 90 years after the events. Ironically and tragically–none of these Members has ever once mentioned the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Armenia’s during the Armenia-Azerbaijan war which ended a mere decade ago.
"This savage cruelty against innocent women–children and the elderly is unfathomable in and of itself but the senseless brutality did not stop with Khojaly. Khojaly was simply the first. In fact–the level of brutality and the unprecedented atrocities committed at Khojaly set a pattern of destruction and ethnic cleansing that Armenian troops would adhere to for the remainder of the war," Burton noted during his speech.
The Embassy official–who wished to remain anonymous–said that Burton’s speech comes only two weeks after the government of Azerbaijan officially retained former Congressman Robert Livingston as a lobbyist. Recently–Burton supported the January 25 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe resolution–which states that "considerable parts of Azerbaijan’s territory are still occupied by the Armenian forces and separatist forces are still in control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region."
