12:32, 18 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, ARMENPRESS: House Foreign Affairs Committee senior member Brad Sherman (D-CA) Secretary Kerry to clearly and unequivocally condemn 
Azerbaijan and its ongoing threats to shoot down civilian aircraft linked with the impending opening of the Stepanakert Airport. As reports Armenpress referring to Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), while not referencing Azerbaijan in his brief response, Secretary Kerry will have the opportunity to offer broader responses in written form after the hearing.
On September 2012 Congressman welcomed news of the impending opening of the Stepanakert Airport in the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, and called on Azerbaijani authorities “to guarantee it will take no violent actions against flights into Artsakh.” Rep. Sherman referenced a pattern of threats by the Azerbaijani government to shoot down civilian aircraft to and from the Karabakh airport and called for immediate U.S. action including to “cut off all aid, arms transfers and to downgrade relations with Azerbaijan’s military.”