US ADMINISTRATION INSISTS ON RENDERING DIRECT ASSISTANCE TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH
White House proposes to render more support to Armenia than to Azerbaijan next year
US administration has submitted to Congress the bill of external financial provisions for 2006. Armenian organizations of America are satisfied with the contents of the document since firstly it supposes rendering direct assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh and secondly in contrast to the last year's bill it provides equal assistance for military aims. As it is known the White House formerly considered that official Baku deserved more support from Washington since Baku was more actively involved in the international anti-terrorist coalition.
This time the United States have proposed to allocate 5 million dollars to Armenia and Azerbaijan for implementation of the defense program. It should be mentioned that last year the White House proposed to provide Yerevan with a sum four times less than the sum planned for Baku. (Armenia - 2 million dollars, Azerbaijan - 8 million dollars). However due to the efforts of Armenian lobbyists and their partners in the House of Representatives and the Senate the sum was equalized. Both parties received 8 million and 750 thousand dollars. Things were like this also two years ago when again thanks to the efforts of congressmen equality was achieved in the capacities of military support provided to Armenia and Azerbaijan. The fact that the administration has finally given up the attempts to break the balance in this issue is the success of Armenian lobbyists.
However it would not be quite correct to impute the achievement only to American Armenians who actively lobby the interests of Yerevan. The issue would hardly be settled so easily without the efforts of Yerevan. It is reasonable to think that this time the parity would not be achieved if Armenia did not make the decision to send peace-makers to Iraq. Last year lobbyists managed to win the sympathies of Congress thanks to the declared readiness of Yerevan to activate its role in the international anti-terror coalition. Yerevan kept the promise. However some correspondents hold that the difficult step made by Armenia was not estimated at its true worth by Washington. The sum mentioned in the bill was much less than supposed. At the end of the last year informal sources mentioned much more impressive figures.
As for the "regular support" the administration intends to assign 55 million dollars. It is worth mentioning that last year the White House offered 62 million to Yerevan but the Congress kept the previous sum - 75 million. It is much easier to bring 62 to 75 than 55 to 75. So it is quite possible that this year we shall have to submit that the regular support provided by the United States will be less than before. Nevertheless it should be mentioned that the figures mentioned in the bill are just proposed by the administration. Practice shows that lawmakers bravely make corrections in the texts of the documents submitted by the White House. The same can be said about documents referring to Armenia. There are no doubts that this year also the partners of Armenian lobbyists in the Congress will achieve success in increasing the sum planned for Armenia and it will be much higher than the sum assigned to Azerbaijan.
Despite the amendment 907 introduced in 1992 that banned government aid to Azerbaijan this year Baku will however receive aid from Washington. The temporary suspension of the amendment initiated by the president allowed Azerbaijan to receive altogether 90 million dollars. The US ambassador in Azerbaijan Rino Harnish announced on Monday that he "dreams of the day when the amendment is fully canceled". He assured that both the administration and the Congress strive for the cancellation of the amendment. It is of course an exaggeration. The Congress is not going to yield to the administration in that issue and besides, the existence of the amendment is quite advantageous for the president himself since it creates additional mechanisms of impact on Azerbaijan. So there are no serious grounds to talk about the possibility of ceasing the sanctions applied against Azerbaijan punished by the United States for blockading Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Artem Erkanyan
However it would not be quite correct to impute the achievement only to American Armenians who actively lobby the interests of Yerevan. The issue would hardly be settled so easily without the efforts of Yerevan. It is reasonable to think that this time the parity would not be achieved if Armenia did not make the decision to send peace-makers to Iraq. Last year lobbyists managed to win the sympathies of Congress thanks to the declared readiness of Yerevan to activate its role in the international anti-terror coalition. Yerevan kept the promise. However some correspondents hold that the difficult step made by Armenia was not estimated at its true worth by Washington. The sum mentioned in the bill was much less than supposed. At the end of the last year informal sources mentioned much more impressive figures.
As for the "regular support" the administration intends to assign 55 million dollars. It is worth mentioning that last year the White House offered 62 million to Yerevan but the Congress kept the previous sum - 75 million. It is much easier to bring 62 to 75 than 55 to 75. So it is quite possible that this year we shall have to submit that the regular support provided by the United States will be less than before. Nevertheless it should be mentioned that the figures mentioned in the bill are just proposed by the administration. Practice shows that lawmakers bravely make corrections in the texts of the documents submitted by the White House. The same can be said about documents referring to Armenia. There are no doubts that this year also the partners of Armenian lobbyists in the Congress will achieve success in increasing the sum planned for Armenia and it will be much higher than the sum assigned to Azerbaijan.
Despite the amendment 907 introduced in 1992 that banned government aid to Azerbaijan this year Baku will however receive aid from Washington. The temporary suspension of the amendment initiated by the president allowed Azerbaijan to receive altogether 90 million dollars. The US ambassador in Azerbaijan Rino Harnish announced on Monday that he "dreams of the day when the amendment is fully canceled". He assured that both the administration and the Congress strive for the cancellation of the amendment. It is of course an exaggeration. The Congress is not going to yield to the administration in that issue and besides, the existence of the amendment is quite advantageous for the president himself since it creates additional mechanisms of impact on Azerbaijan. So there are no serious grounds to talk about the possibility of ceasing the sanctions applied against Azerbaijan punished by the United States for blockading Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Artem Erkanyan
