Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW, Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2004
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
SEN. ALLEN CALLS FOR “STRICT PARITY” IN U.S. MILITARY AID TO
ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN DURING CONFIRMATION HEARING FOR U.S.
AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA
– Nominee Stresses Ties to Armenia, Willingness to Work with
Armenian Americans
WASHINGTON, DC – Senator George Allen (R-VA), in his capacity as
chairman of the Senate panel holding a confirmation hearing earlier
today for the next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, stressed that in
order “to ensure that the United States remains an honest peace
broker, I believe it is essential that we maintain strict parity
with regard to foreign military financing or FMF funding” to
Armenia and Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).
The statement comes in response to President Bush’s Fiscal Year
2005 budget proposal, which would break the agreement to maintain
military aid parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The budget,
released on February 2nd, proposes $2 million in Foreign Military
Financing for Armenia and $8 million for Azerbaijan.
The proposal contradicts the agreement struck in 2001 between the
White House and Congress to maintain parity in U.S. military aid
levels to Armenia and Azerbaijan. This understanding, which was
shared with representatives of the Armenian American community
during a February 21, 2002 meeting with National Security Council
officials, resulted in equal levels of military aid being
appropriated to these two nations in Fiscal Years 2002, 2003, and
2004. This parity contributed meaningfully to stability in the
Caucasus.
Since the release of the President’s budget, the Armenian American
community has participated in ANCA WebFax, letter writing and phone
campaigns, urging the House and Senate Appropriations panels to
ensure continued military aid parity to Armenia and Azerbaijan. In
a recent memo to key Senate and House members, ANCA Government
Affairs Director Abraham Niziblian argued that, “a tilt in military
spending toward Azerbaijan would destabilize the region,
emboldening the new Azerbaijani leadership to continue their
threats to impose a military solution of the Nagorno Karabagh
conflict. More broadly, breaching the parity agreement would
reward the leadership of Azerbaijan for walking away from the OSCE
Key West peace talks in 2001, the most promising opportunity to
resolve the Nagorno Karabagh conflict in nearly a decade.”
——————————————————————-
Nominee John Marshall Evans Pledges to Work to Strengthen U.S. –
Armenia Bilateral Relations
——————————————————————-
Career Foreign Service Officer John Marshall Evans, in his oral
testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed
his commitment to “working with this and other relevant Committees
of the Congress, with the Armenian people, the Armenian Government,
and with the Armenian American community to further the foreign
policy goals of the United States.” He went on to note the U.S.
commitment to strengthening democracy and economic prosperity in
Armenia. Citing the recent announcement of Armenia’s eligibility
for Millennium Challenge Account funding, Evans noted that the move
“presents a unique opportunity for our two countries to strengthen
our bilateral cooperation while meeting some of today’s most
difficult challenges head on.”
During the question and answer period, Sen. Allen asked Evans to
comment about the effectiveness of U.S. assistance to Armenia.
Evans noted that reports using non-U.S. indicators measuring the
democratic and economic progress of Armenia show that, “we are
making progress and we are trying to quantify it as effectively and
scientifically as we can.”
In response to a question on the debilitating effects of the
Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades of Armenia, Evans stated that
“the estimate is that were the border for Turkey to be reopened, it
could make as much as a 50% difference in Armenia’s trade
situation.”
“We want to thank Senator Allen for his forceful defense of
maintaining strict military aid parity between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Keeping our military assistance packages to these two
nations at equal levels will contribute to regional stability,
restrain the increasingly violent rhetoric of the Azerbaijani
leadership, and ensure that the United States can continue to act
as an impartial mediator in the Nagorno Karabagh peace process,”
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We would
also like to express our appreciation to John Evans for his
willingness to follow in the tradition of past ambassadors to
Armenia – Harry Gilmore, Michael Lemmon, and John Ordway – in
working closely with the Armenian American community on the full
range issues on the U.S.-Armenia agenda.”
John Marshall Evans joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1971. He
has held posts in Iran, Czechoslovakia, Russia and with the OSCE
among other positions. He currently serves as Director of the
Office of Russian Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian
Affairs in the State Department, with the rank of Minister-
Counselor.
During the confirmation hearing, other candidates presenting
testimony included Mr. Charles P. Ries, nominated for U.S.
Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic and Mr. Tom Korologos,
nominated for U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.
During the hearing, Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) urged both Evans and
Reis to make a special effort to learn Armenian and Greek,
respectively, in an effort to better communicate with their
counterparts in their upcoming posts. Sen. Sarbanes had met
privately with all three candidates prior to the confirmation
hearing.
Full Senate confirmation of all three candidates for
ambassadorships is expected soon.
The complete text of Mr. Evans’ oral testimony, as well as, the
question and answer session dealing with Armenian American concerns
follows. The complete written testimony presented by Evans to the
Senate panel will be available soon.
#####
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Selected Statements from the Senate Foreign Relations Confirmation
Hearing for John Marshall Evans, Nominated to Serve as U.S.
Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia
===================================================================
Sen. George Allen (R-VA) – [during his opening remarks]:
—————————————- ——————————————–
I have long believed that the United States must remain engaged in the
South Caucasus remnants of the former Soviet Union. Ongoing
conflicts and corruption in this part of the world remain a great
concern to both regional and global stability. Particularly, I have
had a long-standing interest in Armenia and the history of the
Armenian people; understanding that the relations, though, between
Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be tenuous and a very fragile
peace exists. To ensure that the United States remains an honest
peace broker, I believe it is essential that we maintain strict
parity with regard to foreign military financing or FMF funding to
both nations. I also remain concerned that the continuing
blockades of Armenia are obviously troublesome. Our government, in
my view Mr. Ambassador, when you are confirmed, our government
needs to do more to compel Turkey and Azerbaijan to fully end these
blockades and the negative effects these have on the Armenian
economy.
————————————————————————————————–
Mr. John Marshall Evans [Oral testimony before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee]:
————————————————————– ————————————
Mr. Chairman, we and the Armenians are no
strangers to each other. Many Americans are, of course, of Armenian
background, and if you read my full statement you will know that I
have learned that there was an Armenian at the Jamestown settlement
as early as 1619.
We have interacted, we and the Armenians, over many years in good
times and bad. Americans sympathize deeply with the plight of
those Armenians who suffered and perished in the declining years of
the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of Armenians have come to our shores
and enriched our country in a myriad of ways. In 1988 when a
terrible earthquake struck Armenia, it was only natural for the
United States to react immediately with rescue teams and
reconstruction assistance. I am very proud to have been heavily
involved in that effort, serving as Deputy Director of the Soviet
desk at the State Department.
Today, the Republic of Armenia and the United States face many
shared challenges. Terrorism and political and economic
instability are our common enemies. The U.S. aims to promote
security, stability, democracy and prosperity in the Caucasus. We
are helping Armenia build a new society based on democratic
principles and the rule of law. Recently Armenia was selected as a
potential recipient of a Millennium Challenge Account grant. I
believe this presents a unique opportunity for our two countries to
strengthen our bilateral cooperation while meeting some of today’s
most difficult challenges head on.
Mr. Chairman, if confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working
with this and other relevant Committees of the Congress, with the
Armenian people, the Armenian Government, and with the Armenian
American community to further the foreign policy goals of the
United States.
Mr. Chairman, as you mentioned earlier, I have served previously in
Tehran, Prague – twice actually in Prague – Moscow, and St.
Petersburg as well as the NATO headquarters in Brussels, and in the
OSCE system. I also spent a semester at the Woodrow Wilson center
reading Ottoman History. So I think, in a sense, I have been
circling around Armenia for some time. If confirmed, I will do my
very best, to learn some of that most difficult, but as I
understand, beautiful language. I am very grateful to Senator
Sarbanes for his moral support in emphasizing the importance of
this and I certainly will report what you said to the State
Department.
Question and Answer Session during the Senate Confirmation Hearing:
——————————————————————————————————
Sen. George Allen (R-VA): I would like to ask you Mr. Evans, the
US has provided assistance to Armenia, been a strong supporter as
have certainly a majority of this Committee – are strong supporters
of assistance to Armenia. Could you assess how this assistance to
Armenia has furthered the interest of the United States?
Mr. John Marshall Evans: It’s important to keep in mind what our
goals are. Our goals in the South Caucasus are to create
conditions of stability, security, growing prosperity, and also
growing democracy. We’ve spent cumulatively about $1.5 billion, I
believe now. There is a very fine report that came out in January
on the current state of our assistance. What it shows is that we
are now trying to graph the effectiveness of our system using
indicators that are independent of the U.S. government. So we use
economic indicators derived from the EBRD on one axis and we use
Freedom House indicators on another axis. And if you look at the
development of Armenia, it’s a bit of a sigmoid curve. There was
constant movement up on the economy. There have been some zig-zags
on democratic development. But the overall movement is in the
right direction and I very much recommend the full report to you
and your staff. We are making progress and we are trying to
quantify it as effectively and scientifically as we can.
Sen. Allen: Would you comment then on the effect of the closed
borders on Armenia. You mentioned that the economy is going in the
right direction, but so far as the closed borders of Turkey and
Azerbaijan [. . .] What is your perspective?
Mr. Evans: A glance at the map makes it very clear that Armenia is
in a very difficult position and must depend on being a
transportation corridor. Armenia sits right in the South Caucasus
between Iran and Turkey and Azerbaijan and Georgia and two of its
four borders are currently closed, as you mentioned, those with
Turkey and Azerbaijan. The estimate is that were the border for
Turkey to be reopened, it could make as much as a 50% difference in
Armenia’s trade situation. . . . No one knows precisely, but that
is a pretty good estimate. It also would have a huge effect on
reducing Armenia’s energy bill, because at the moment, the single
source of natural gas, for example, comes from Russia and a lot of
gasoline is trucked into Armenia, so the energy costs are very
high. We are frequently in conversation with our Turkish
colleagues trying to persuade them that the time is come to open
the border with Armenia, which would also be a very good thing for
the Eastern Provinces of Turkey.
Sen. Allen: Thank you and you will certainly have this Senator’s
support to encourage Turkey to reopen that border without
preconditions.
#####
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress