PALLONE CALLS FOR PARITY IN MILITARY AID TO YEREVAN AND BAKU
PanARMENIAN.Net
09.03.2006 19:55 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of
the Armenian Issues Caucus, took to the floor of the U.S. House of
Representatives yesterday to criticize the Administration’s “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,”
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The Bush
Administration recommended last month, in its Fiscal Year 2007 budget,
that Azerbaijan receive significantly more military training and
hardware than Armenia. The President also proposed cutting U.S.
economic aid to Armenia from last year’s appropriation of $74.4
million to $50 million, a nearly 33% reduction. The New Jersey
Congressman explained to his House colleagues that, “a lack of
military parity would weaken ongoing peace negotiations regarding
Nagorno Karabakh. Furthermore, I believe that any imbalance will
contribute to further instability in the region if military parity
is not achieved.” He added that, “failing to respect the parity
agreement undermines the role of the U.S. as an impartial mediator
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.” “We want to thank Congressman
Pallone for his longstanding leadership in educating his colleagues
about the important U.S. interests served by our assistance program to
Armenia, direct aid to Nagorno Karabakh, and the other Armenia-related
provisions in the Foreign Operations bill – most recently and notably –
the need for maintaining parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress