Radio Free Europe, Czech republic
June 30 2004

Armenian Official Praises U.S. House Panel For Military Aid Increase

By Hrach Melkumian 30/06/2004 14:11

A senior Armenian official commended on Tuesday a key subcommittee of
the U.S. House of Representatives for supporting equal U.S. military
assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan opposed by the White House.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ruben Shugarian also said Yerevan should
respond by expanding military cooperation with Washington.

A bill approved by the subcommittee last week calls for $5 million in
military financing to each of the two countries locked in a bitter
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The earlier version of the bill
drafted by the administration of President George W. Bush would
allocate $8 million to Azerbaijan and only $2 million to Armenia.

In an interview with RFE/RL, Shugarian welcomed the amendment which
has yet to be endorsed by the full House Appropriations Committee. He
said it was not only the result of heavy Armenian-American lobbying
but also an `explanatory work’ conducted by Armenia’s foreign and
defense ministries.

Shugarian took issue with the Bush administration’s arguments that
Azerbaijan deserves greater military aid because it has already
committed troops for the U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
`No matter how much countries differ in their attitude toward Iraq
developments, this can not be the decisive argument because the issue
relates to our region,’ he said. `There is a frozen conflict in our
region and when the parity is disrupted…there arise some dangers.’

But Shugarian also stressed that Armenia, which relies on a military
alliance with Russia in its national security policy, should seek
closer military ties with the United States if it is to maintain the
aid parity. `We should think in the future about expanding the
[defense cooperation] programs if we want to continue to keep that
parity because the aid depends on our proposals as well,’ said
Armenia’s former longtime ambassador to Washington.

The Armenian leadership has already taken steps in that direction in
recent years, stepping up its participation in NATO’s Partnership for
Peace program and promising to join the U.S.-led `coalition of the
willing’ in Iraq with a small contingent of non-combat military
personnel. A team of Armenian military drivers, doctors and demining
experts is expected to be deployed in Iraq in September.

Shugarian denied any U.S. pressure behind the deployment plans,
saying that Yerevan will continue to exercise caution in its Iraqi
policy primarily because of the existence of a vulnerable ethnic
Armenian community in Iraq. `I can say that both the State Department
and the White House understand our approach,’ he said.

Unlike neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan, Armenia declined to
endorse the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year and did not sent
armed combat units to the country. It at the same time welcomed the
quick overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime.