PAPER NOTES ARMENIAN CONCERN AT PROPOSED GREATER US FUNDING FOR AZERI MILITARY
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
7 Feb 07
Excerpt from report "Breaking of parity" by Anna Akopyan in Armenian
newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak on 7 February
Yesterday American President George Bush presented the draft federal
budget for 2008, according to which military aid to Armenia and
Azerbaijan will not be equal with more going to the latter. Military
aid to Armenia is 3.3m dollars, while Azerbaijan will receive 5.3m
dollars, i.e. 2m dollars more. This has caused serious anxiety
in Armenia as well as among the Armenian diaspora in the USA. In
particular, the executive director of the Armenian Assembly of
America, Bryan Arduni, said that unequal military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan goes against the decision of the US Congress that aid
should be equal. Representatives of the Armenian diaspora said that
they are going to take action so that the US Congress rejects the
point on military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
[Passage omitted: The author recalls that the same thing happened
last year, but Congress did not approve the unequal military aid to
Armenia and Azerbaijan.]
Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a war situation. And if the USA
gives more military aid to one of the states in a war, this may be
interpreted incorrectly. Moreover, it is noteworthy that Azerbaijan
is raising its military budget year by year, and it is several times
greater than Armenia’s. In this context, it is less important exactly
how many more dollars Azerbaijan is getting from the USA, but the
political "message" this step sends. For this reason, there is a view
that breaking the equality of military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan
may lead to combat actions restarting. Let us note that they are also
worried about this in the Armenian Defence Ministry. But they think
that Armenia will respond officially to this if US Congress approves
the draft.