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PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
April 17, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

REP. SMITH PRESSES STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ON
AZERBAIJANI THREATS TO ATTACK NAGORNO KARABAGH

— Azerbaijani "War Drums are Beating" Warns NJ Legislator
during U.S. Helsinki Commission Hearing on Armenia

WASHINGTON, DC – A senior State Department official came under
intense questioning today over the Administration’s unwillingness
to confront Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s escalating threats
to launch his nation’s growing military arsenal against Nagorno
Karabagh "at any time," reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).

Representative Chris Smith’s questioning took place during a
hearing called by the Congressional Commission for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) to examine the
impact of the recent Armenian elections on the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict and the overall state of U.S.-Armenia relations. A
leading Congressional voice on foreign policy and an energetic
defender of human rights, the New Jersey legislator pressed Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza to explain the State
Department’s response to threats of renewed Azerbaijani aggression,
which he quoted from at length for the benefit of his colleagues,
the panel of witnesses, and a standing-room only audience gathered
for the hearing. Noting that Azerbaijani "war drums are beating,"
he explained that it was only natural for Armenians to take a
defensive position against a potential "sucker punch" from
Azerbaijan. He asked, pointedly, "what clear and totally broadcast
in advance penalty would Azerbaijan suffer if it initiated
hostilities?"

Bryza, who devoted the bulk of his testimony to the elections and
the overall state of democracy in Armenia, sidestepped Congressman
Smith’s question, choosing instead to speak in broad terms about
U.S. mediation efforts: "In terms of penalty, I wouldn’t want to
speculate on that because all the various scenarios are so
unpredictable. What I can say is that any resumption of armed
hostility in and around Karabagh would be tragic – tragic for
everybody. Absolute disaster. Who the heck knows what the outcome
would be of the fighting, but as I said before, I think any
fighting would lead to the perpetuation of the current situation."
Bryza noted that Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Joe
Knollenberg (R-MI) had on several occasions impressed upon him the
importance of the U.S. forcefully challenging Azerbaijan’s war
rhetoric. Calling portions of the border between Nagorno Karabagh
and Azerbaijan a "Caucasus Hiroshima," he noted that he shared
Representative Smith’s concern regarding regional tension and noted
that both the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents were scheduled to
hold Nagorno Karabagh talks in the near future.

Also testifying alongside Bryza, were Vigen Sargsian, a senior
assistant to the President of Armenia, Serge Sarkissian, and Arman
Grigorian, a spokesman for former Armenian President Levon Ter
Petrossian who teaches at the College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg, Virginia. The hearing was chaired by Congressman
Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and included the participation of the
Commission’s Co-Chairman, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD).

Sargsian welcomed the interest shown by Armenia’s Congressional
friends in the elections and, in his remarks, placed the recent
difficulties in the broader context of the growing U.S.-Armenia
relationship and the steady progress of Armenia’s democratic
development. He updated the Commission on the steps toward
reconciliation underway in Armenia and invited outside assistance
for inquiries into the unrest. "At their heart," he pointed out,
"the challenges we are confronted with today have less to do with
the conduct or even the outcome of the February 19th elections –
which, while imperfect, reflected the will of the Armenian
electorate – and more to do with efforts by an element of the
opposition that, having lost at the ballot box, sought to challenge
this outcome through illegal and ultimately extra-constitutional
means."

Grigorian, in his remarks, offered a sweeping indictment of the
Armenian government and the conduct of the elections, setting
conditions for President Ter Petrossian’s willingness to engage in
dialogue with four of the five major Armenian political parties
that have entered into a broad-based coalition agreement: "We
understand that we will have to negotiate with the regime, even if
we do not and will not accept its legitimacy… They must come to
terms with the idea that the dismantling of the current
kleptocratic system, in one way or another, will have to be the
purpose of these negotiations, or the negotiations will have no
purpose."