YEREVAN (YERKIR) – Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Armenian Issues Caucus, took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday to criticize the Administration’s “breach of an agreement struck between the White House and Congress in 2001 to maintain parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan,” reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
The Bush Administration recommended last month, in its Fiscal Year 2007 budget, that Azerbaijan receive significantly more military training and hardware than Armenia. The President also proposed cutting U.S. economic aid to Armenia from last year’s appropriation of $74.4 million to $50 million, a nearly 33% reduction.
The New Jersey Congressman explained to his House colleagues that, “a lack of military parity would weaken ongoing peace negotiations regarding Nagorno Karabakh. Furthermore, I believe that any imbalance will contribute to further instability in the region if military parity is not achieved.” He added that, “failing to respect the parity agreement undermines the role of the U.S. as an impartial mediator of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.”
“We want to thank Congressman Pallone for his longstanding leadership in educating his colleagues about the important U.S. interests served by our assistance program to Armenia, direct aid to Nagorno Karabagh, and the other Armenia-related provisions in the Foreign Operations bill – most recently and notably – the need for maintaining parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
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