Armenian Assembly of America
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PRESS RELEASE
March 8, 2006
CONTACT: Christine Kojoian
E-mail: ckojoian@aaainc.org
RE: Rep. Pallone Tells Congress He Will Fight For Military Aid Parity
WASHINGTON, DC -The Armenian Assembly commended Congressional Caucus
on Armenian Issues Co-Chair Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) for promising to
fight against the Administration’s attempts to provide Azerbaijan a 20
percent increase in military aid over Armenia in the Fiscal Year 2007
budget. Pallone told Congress yesterday that, “A lack of military
parity would weaken ongoing peace negotiations regarding Nagorno
Karabakh. It will also contribute to further instability in the region
if military parity is not achieved and it undermines the role of the
U.S. as an impartial mediator of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.”
Pallone also said he will fight to increase economic assistance to
Armenia and provide for humanitarian aid to Nagorno Karabakh. Below
is the full text of Pallone’s speech as delivered before the House of
Representatives.
The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based
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NR#2006-019
CONGRESSMAN FRANK PALLONE, JR.
FLOOR STATEMENT
Foreign Operations Request
March 7, 2006
Mr. Speaker, the President’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2007
proposes 20% more military aid to Azerbaijan than to Armenia.
This request is in clear breach of an agreement struck between the
White House and Congress in 2001 to maintain parity in U.S. military
aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Mr. Speaker, the parity agreement is unfortunately a battle that the
Armenian people have had to fight in the past. The FY05 Presidential
request was similar in that it called for more military funding to
Azerbaijan. However, the congress reversed the President to ensure
military parity for the FY05 foreign operations Appropriations Act.
After that battle and the, and the President’s FY06 budget request
that included parity, I thought the President’s FY07 budget would
continue the policy.
A lack of military parity would weaken ongoing peace negotiations
regarding Nagorno Karabakh. It will also contribute to further
instability in the region if military parity is not achieved and it
undermines the role of the U.S. as an impartial mediator of the
Nagorno Karabagh conflict.
The President should not be rewarding the government of Azerbaijan for
walking away from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) – Key West peace talks, the most promising opportunity
to resolve the Nagorno Karabagh conflict in nearly a decade.
Unfortunately, the Administration’s budget also calls for drastic cuts
in economic assistance to Armenia. I was discouraged to see that the
President requested a 33% decrease in economic aid, from $74.4 million
last year, to $50 million, this year. Technical and developmental
assistance and investment is essential to Armenia. This funding is
key to democratic stability and economic reform.
Mr. Speaker is this the message we want to send to our friends in
Armenia? Do we want to cut economic aid to a country that is
terrorized by its neighbors and is shut off at its eastern and western
borders due to an illegal blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan?
In the coming weeks I will advocate to the Foreign Operations
Subcommittee to restore military parity, to increase economic
assistance to Armenia, and to provide for humanitarian aid to the
people of Nagorno Karabakh. It is incredibly important to reward our
allies and to send a message to Azerbaijan and Turkey that ethnically
charged genocides, illegal blockades of sovereign nations, and the
constant harassment of the Armenian people will not be tolerated.