PanARMENIAN.Net
Future of region depends on end to blockade of Armenia
16.02.2007 15:18 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `The last decade and a half of U.S. foreign aid
policy to Armenia has been widely seen as a reflection of the
strategic importance of Armenia to both overall U.S. foreign policy
and to the U.S. Congress,’ Richard Giragosian, expert of the Armenian
International Police Research Group – AIPRG, Washington DC, told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. `Although a major factor in the high level
of U.S. aid to Armenia (in per capita terms) stems from the work of
the politically active and sophisticated Armenian-American community,
or so-called `Armenian lobby,’ there is also an inherent recognition
that Armenia holds a position of strategic importance within the
post-September framework of international security,’ said he.
`But in the past few years, the course of U.S.-Armenian relations has
been subject to a reassessment, within a broader context of a shift in
the nature of U.S. foreign aid and in terms of changes to the
bilateral relationship between the United Sates and the Republic of
Armenia. A key question in this regard is the so-called `Section 907′
provision governing U.S. aid to both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The presidential waiver of Section 907 may be renewed annually, and
sixty days after the exercise of the waiver, the President must report
to Congress on the nature of aid to be provided to Azerbaijan, the
military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the effects of
U.S. aid on that balance, the status of Karabakh peace talks, and the
effects of U.S. aid on those talks. President Bush has exercised that
waiver ever year since, most recently in February 2006.
Thus, the effectiveness of Section 907 has clearly been diminished by
Azerbaijan’s failure to lift its blockade of Armenia, by it militant
rhetoric and threats of military action to retake Karabakh and wage
war on Armenia. It is time for a new effort, by both the United States
and the European Union, to recognize the fact that the continued
Azerbaijani (and Turkish) blockade of Armenia is a threat to regional
stability and an obstacle to regional development. And although the
Millennium Challenge Account is a good program, there needs to be new
pressure on both Azerbaijan and Turkey to accept that the future of
the region depends on an end to the blockade of Armenia, the last
remaining `iron curtain’ in Europe,’ said Giragosian.