Joseph Pennington:

U.S. wants to continue Millennium Challenge program in Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenia-U.S. relations are developing dynamically. The U.S. continues to render assistance to Armenia for formation of civil society and implementation of democratic reforms. As a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the U.S. promotes resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. However, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia has been functioning without Ambassador for 18 months already. PanARMENIAN.Net requested U.S. Charge d'Affairs Joseph Pennington to comment on the Armenian-American relations and development prospects.
What is the present level of Armenian-American relations?

There is a historical aspect to it, with obviously deep cultural ties because of the Diaspora and there is, of course, also the political dimension of the relationship…and economics and trade and a business relationship as well…and military relations, for that matter, through NATO. Of course all of those aspects of the relationship are important and our partnership in most of those areas is beyond question. And so I would say as a general comment, our relationship is very strong in the sense that we have cooperation across a broad range of issues.

How would you describe the relationship in terms of political, economic developments?

Obviously we believe that we have played a constructive role over the years, since the independence of Armenia, in Armenia's economic development and the development of democracy here. The U.S. government has allocated more than - or almost - 2 billion USD over the years in assistance to Armenia. And that continues today both in our ordinary bilateral assistance and also in the MCC Program. Of course the MCC program is also affected by political developments and reform.

Is the suspension of MCC compact possible in Armenia?

The short answer is yes, it is possible that there could be problems with the MCC program and Ambassador Danilovich has made that clear in letters to former President Kocharyan and President Sargsyan. And the reason for that is not because the United States is looking to reduce our support to Armenia or to punish Armenia is some way, but the reason is that the Millennium Challenge Program itself is based on an agreement between the U.S. government and the Armenian government that yes, the assistance will be provided, but also with the reforms in the democratic area. And the events around the election campaign, the election day, the recounts, the post-election situation that lead ultimately to violence and the state emergency - all of those things are things that called into question the current authorities' commitment to democratic reform. And so what we have said both privately to the government and publicly is that we want to continue the Millennium Challenge program because it will help hundreds of thousands of Armenians out in rural areas, but at the same time we can only do that if the authorities return Armenia to a democratic path and regain momentum on democratic development.

Please speak about American-Armenian military cooperation both within the framework NATO and outside of it?

Well, of course the most visible and well-known example of military cooperation is through the partnership program that Armenia has with NATO, which Armenia has made good progress on fulfilling the commitments under its purpose. There is also of course the cooperation and the contribution that Armenia has given on the ground in difficult places like Iraq and Kosovo which is tremendously appreciated by the United States. We specifically are very pleased that as of about a week ago, Armenian has doubled its commitment to troops on the ground in Kosovo. And at the same time, the United States military provides in a number of military areas assistance to Armenia whether it's for equipment, training, help with drafting strategic military documents and so on, civilization of the military. And so there are a lot of aspects to the military relationship which we think is developing well.

Hearing on the nomination of the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia will start tomorrow? Will they be successful or not?

First of all, we are very pleased that we have a great nominee, Ambassador Yovanovitch. I think Armenia is very lucky that that appointment has been made. We look forward to her coming and she will do a fantastic job. Of course in our system, as you are aware, there is this Senate approval as required of the nomination and the process will start Thursday on the hearing. We are hopeful that the process will go without significant problem and that Senate will approve Ambassador Yovanovitch and that will happen quickly. We think Armenia deserves to have a fully represented U.S. mission here that includes an ambassador but of course the Senate has its own business to do and I can't predict the outcome, but we are hopeful that it will be positive and that we will have an ambassador soon. No one will be happier that I will be to see her to come.

We are afraid that the story with Ambassador Hoagland will be repeated again.

I certainly hope not. I think it would be negative for both the United States and the U.S.-Armenian relationship but that is not in our hands, that's in the Senate's hands and we'll see how it comes out.

Do you share the position of the Minsk Group as a Co-Chair country?

Right, we have been through many years an active participant of the Minsk Group process and we see that process as the appropriate avenue. We were very pleased to see from statements through governments that the last meeting went well. And we hope that that meeting is something that can be built upon. We expect the co-chairs back in the region probably by the end of this month to start the next round of the process. But in our view, of course, there is no alternative. And we will continue working very hard with our partners.

If Azerbaijan starts war, what will be the reactions of the United States?

I am afraid that's just a hypothetical question that I can't really answer. But we would expect and hope that that hypothetical never comes to pass.

Recently different ways of reconciliation have been observed on the public level between Turks and Armenians. Is it possible that these contacts might serve ground for further strengthening of the relationship?

First of all, this is an extremely important issue in my view for both Turkey and Armenia for the future of both countries and for the stability in the region. I've worked now for many years of my career in both of those places and so I have a real personal interest in this issue. And we, you know the United States for a long time has supported increased cultural, social ties, the ties we call people-to-people contacts between Turks and Armenians. And just as an example, tomorrow night I am going to open a performance at Komitas Hall of the Bosporus Quartet of Istanbul. The Komitas Quartet performed in Istanbul last week. And it is one example. There are many projects like that that we support and will continue to support. We think that those kinds of contacts - conferences, exchanges, academic debates and so on, they help to break down barriers and ultimately help to push the political process forward. And we also continue to work at the levels of governments to try to encourage the two sides to take steps to overcome their differences. And we certainly hope that in the not-too-distant future there will be some progress at that level as well.

You have worked in Turkey. How the treat Armenian? What is their attitude towards the events of 1915?

It's a very interesting question. I first worked in Turkey from 1995-1998, so back 10-13 years ago, and I can say that the difference between those years and now in terms of this debate is very clear. I think there is a much greater willingness among many people in Turkey to talk more honestly about the past and look at those events more openly. And if you look in the Turkish media, you see a quite lively debate about Armenia and about Turkey and Armenia. And it's part of an overall opening in Turkey in terms of activating civil society and democratization. Of course, there are also problems, and we saw the convictions under article 301 in Turkey for a number of years and certainly there are still people who don't want to have this discussion and people who tragically were willing to resort to violence against Hrant Dink when he spoke about it. But I can tell you that I met with Hrant in the last week that I worked in Turkey back in 2006 and Hrant's approach was that the most important thing that we - all of us - Armenians, Turks and international community...Hrant was convinced that by improving that relationship, that would encourage a greater and more honest look at the past. And so that's the direction that we try to work in.
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