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Home > Montebello Organizations > ANCA > Press Release > Sister City October 28, 2005 (626) 674-1645 Despite Azeri Meddling, Montebello City Council OK’s Sister-City Ties with Stepanakert MONTEBELLO, Calif. – Despite pleas and veiled threats from the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States to the Montebello City Council, the Southern California city unanimously approved a resolution on Oct. 26, formalizing a sister-city affiliation with the city of Stepanakert, the capital of the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic, the Armenian National Committee of San Gabriel Valley reported. The 5-0 vote cemented the relationship between the two cities, after the formation in March of a Montebello-Stepanakert Sister City Committee. Organized at the initiative of the SGV ANC, the 22-member committee is composed of Armenian-Americans, as well a number of local civic-minded individuals, which include two current City Councilpersons, Bob Bagwell, Norma Lopez-Reid, and the Montebello Chief of Police Garry Couso-Vasquez, as well as two candidates for the City Council, Octavio Guzman and Jeff Siccama. In front of a standing room audience, estimated by local police at over 200, the City Council approved the resolution in a roll call vote, which concluded in a thunderous applause from the audience. “This is a historic vote,” observed Serge Samoniantz, the chairman of the Sister-City Committee, “and I would compare it to the 1967 vote in the same chambers, where the then-council approved to grant the Bicknell Park public land for the establishment of the first Armenian Martyrs Memorial in the United States.” “The overall resolve of the Montebello City Council members must be recognized and commended,” he noted, after thanking them for their courageous stand. Also speaking in the support of the resolution was Assemblyman Ron Calderon (D-58th District) whose written remarks were read by Jack Hadjinian, a member of the SGV ANC and the Sister-City Committee. Horizon TV filmed the proceedings and interviewed several of the audience members for a later broadcast. Three weeks prior to the vote, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States, Hafiz Pashayev sent a letter of protest to the City Council, urging the Mayor to reconsider the sister-city relationship, claiming that the cultural relationship could damage US-Azerbaijani foreign relations. “I know your city has a vibrant and active Armenian population, but U.S. foreign policy is clear on this issue. There is no justification for declaring [an] ethnic-cleansed city as an ‘Armenian city.’” The Ambassador also urged the city “not to take action which may be used as a tool in the hands of a separatist regime.” Montebello City Mayor Bill Molinari responded to Ambassador Pashayev, noting : ”I have reviewed the concerns you have raised, but find them unconvincing,” Molinari wrote. Observing that a sister-city relationship is not between governments, but it is a cultural point of contact between the population of two cities, Molinari pointed out, “Stepanakert is a historically Armenian city that has survived a brutal war of aggression and blockade waged by your government. Today, Stepanakert proudly serves as the capital of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabagh.” After noting that US diplomatic representatives regularly visit Stepanakert and “consult with Nagorno-Karabagh’s democratically elected leaders,” Molinari advised the Ambassador, “ Rather than seeking to obstruct the further strengthening of Stepanakert-Montebello cultural relations, I would suggest that your government devote itself to ending its longstanding violation of US policy – namely Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which condemns your government’s illegal blockade of Nagorno-Karabagh.” The Azerbaijani ambassador also had sent a similar protest letter to California Government Arnold Schwarzenegger, warning the governor that “this move by the City Council comes at a very sensitive time in the [peace] negotiations and can easily upset the long striven-for balance to the degree that can slow down or even disrupt the process.” In a short, terse letter of reply to the Ambassador, on Oct. 21, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Chief of Protocol, Carlotte Mailliard Shultz, informed him that, “In California, sister-city relationships are commonly established at the discretion of local jurisdictions. Therefore, we are forwarding a copy of your letter to the Honorable William Molinari, Mayor of Montebello, and Mr. Serge Samoniantz, a member of Montebello’s Sister City Program Committee.” In view of the fact that the Azerbaijan Ambassador’s letter to Montebello City officials had circumvented the diplomatic protocol that requires that a foreign government contact an American municipality through the U.S. State Department, several local elected officials are considering preparing letters of protest to the U.S. State Department, upset at this foreign intervention into the internal, cultural affairs of the City of Montebello. |
