REED AMENDMENT REAFFIRMS PARITY IN DEFENSE DEPARTMENT ASSISTANCE TO
ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
WASHINGTON, MAY 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. In a legislative
reaffirmation of the 2001 agreement between the Congress and the White
House to maintain military aid parity to Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) secured the adoption of an amendment adding
Armenia to the list of nation’s receiving Department of Defense
counter-drug assistance, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA). Commenting to the ANCA following the adoption of his
amendment, Senator Reed said, “I am pleased that the Senate Armed
Services Committee recognized the importance of providing military aid
to Armenia for training and equipment in light of its decision to
provide funding to Azerbaijan. It is essential that we maintain parity
between the two nations, and I am happy that my amendment was
accepted.” The amendment was offered by the Senator, a senior members
of the Armed Services Committee, to the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (S.2507). The measure added Armenia to the
list of eligible nations for a Defense Department counter-drug
assistance program. Azerbaijan was among the nation’s listed in the
original version of the Authorization bill authored by Committee
Chairman John Warner (R-VA). Significantly, the Armed Services
Committee report advises the Defense Department that the panel
“expects that the authority granted in this section will be
administered in the spirit of maintaining current military parity
between Azerbaijan and Armenia.” The Committee report language refers
to the agreement between Congress and the White House in 2001 to
maintain military aid parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 2001,
Congress granted the President limited waiver authority over Section
907 of the Freedom Support Act, which restricts U.S. assistance to
Azerbaijan as long as it continues to blockade Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh, with the understanding that the Administration will not
provide more military assistance to Azerbaijan than to Armenia. “We
join with the Armenian American community of Rhode Island in thanking
Senator Reed for helping to ensure parity in the provision of
U.S. defense assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said ANCA
Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We will, in the coming weeks,
continue to share with legislators in both houses of Congress the
negative implications for peace and regional stability of the
Administration’s ill-advised proposal to break the military aid parity
agreement that has been in force for the past five years.” The House
Armed Services Committee has also finalized its version of the
National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2007 (H.R.5122),
which does include Azerbaijan, but not Armenia as an eligible
country. The two versions of the bill will eventually be reconciled
upon passage in both chambers. The ANCA will urge the conference
committee to accede to the amended Senate version of this provision,
and, more broadly, to work toward overall military aid parity to
Armenia and Azerbaijan.