Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
The Jamestown Foundation
July 8 2005
U.S. CONTINUES LARGE-SCALE ASSISTANCE TO ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Friday, July 8, 2005
Reflecting the influence of the Armenian community in the United
States, the U.S. Congress is blocking yet another attempt by the
White House to sizably cut long-running American assistance to
Armenia. The small South Caucasus state is thus due to remain one of
the world’s leading per-capita recipients of U.S. economic aid, more
than $1.6 billion since 1992.
The House of Representatives voted on June 28 to approve its version
of the U.S. foreign aid bill for the next fiscal year, which
allocates $67.5 million for Armenia — up from the $55 million
requested by the administration of President George W. Bush. The U.S.
Senate’s Appropriations Committee raised the number to $75 million,
the amount Armenia will receive in 2005.
Citing growing budgetary constraints, the Bush administration has
steadily reduced the level of U.S. assistance to former Soviet
republics in recent years. Armenia has been the least affected of
them and has its million-strong Diaspora in America to thank for
that. Armenian-American organizations were instrumental in the latest
aid allocations that followed a familiar pattern. In 2003, for
example, the Bush administration requested $45 million for Armenia
before legislators raised the sum to $75 million.
One of the most powerful ethnic lobbies on Capitol Hill essentially
consists of the Armenian Assembly of America, which is mostly
sponsored by wealthy individuals, and the more nationalist Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) known for its well-organized
grassroots structures. The two groups were behind the creation of the
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues in the late 1990s.
The caucus currently numbers 142 members, making it the largest
bipartisan ethnic coalition in the House of Representatives. Most of
those congressmen are from California, New York, New Jersey,
Michigan, and Massachusetts, the states with the highest
concentration of Americans of Armenian descent. But there are also
members who represent places like Indiana, Kentucky, or Oregon where
the Armenian presence is minuscule.
One of the Armenian lobby’s key allies in the Senate, Mitch
McConnell, is also from Kentucky. McConnell is the Senate majority
whip and chairman of the Foreign Operations Appropriations
Subcommittee. Both the Armenian Assembly and the ANCA personally
thanked the ranking Republican for the latest aid allocation.
One of the two Armenian Caucus co-chairs, Representative Frank
Pallone, says the Armenian-Americans have managed to pull together so
many lawmakers because they “work very hard.” The New Jersey Democrat
is bound to secure strong Armenian support for his plans to run for
the Senate.
The U.S.-Armenian community may have built a strong support base in
Congress, but its influence on the White House and the State
Department remains much weaker. This situation exists in part because
ethnic Armenians are mostly concentrated in the traditional
Democratic strongholds where the outcome of the last two U.S.
presidential elections was never in doubt. Bush didn’t have to woo
ethnic Armenians simply because very few of them live in “swing
states” like Florida and Ohio. His administration therefore has no
qualms about its hitherto successful efforts to prevent a
congressional resolution describing the 1915-18 slaughter of an
estimated 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide.
Such a resolution has for decades been a key aim of Armenian lobbying
activity. Some Armenian-American activists feel they can eventually
overcome White House opposition by further expanding the Armenian
Caucus and turning it into a House majority.
The Bush administration clearly had to reckon with the Armenian
community’s clout when it included Armenia last year in the list of
17 developing nations eligible for additional multimillion-dollar
assistance under Washington’s Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)
program. Neighboring Georgia was the only other ex-Soviet state
selected for the scheme, which is designed to promote political and
economic reform around the world.
Georgia is increasingly emerging as a U.S. bulwark in the South
Caucasus, due to its new leadership’s pro-Western foreign policy.
Still, it may get less American economic aid in 2006 than Armenia,
which continues to be seen as Russia’s key regional ally.
Furthermore, close defense links with Moscow have not prevented
Yerevan from securing over $20 million in U.S. military assistance
since 2002. It is expected to make up at least $5.75 million in
fiscal year 2006.
That assistance was the main condition for Congress’s decision in the
wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks to allow the Bush
administration to suspend the decade-long aid restrictions that had
been imposed on Azerbaijan under Armenian-American pressure. Congress
has also forced the administration to maintain parity in military
funding to Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite the latter’s greater
contribution to the U.S. war effort in Iraq. Armenian-American
lobbyists say Yerevan’s highly unpopular decision to send a small
army contingent to Iraq last January helped to neutralize senior
Pentagon officials who question the wisdom of helping the Armenian
military.
Azerbaijan has also been infuriated by the continuing provision of
direct U.S. government aid to Karabakh, which will equal at least $3
million next year. Bypassing the Azerbaijani government, the money is
mainly used for rebuilding homes and infrastructure destroyed during
the 1991-94 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Baku has repeatedly complained
that the Americans thereby undermine its internationally recognized
sovereignty over the Armenian-controlled territory.
“There is no way that any negotiation should result in Karabakh going
back to Azerbaijan,” says Pallone. “Karabakh is an independent state
and Karabakh must remain Armenian.” Years of successful Armenian
lobbying have meant that many other U.S. lawmakers would also
subscribe to this view.
(Statements by the Armenian Assembly of America, June 29, November
22, 2004; Statements by the Armenian National Committee of America,
June 30, November 23, 2004; Interview with Frank Pallone, June 9,
RFE/RL Armenia Report, December 9, 2003)