AZERBAIJANI EMBASSY DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN TARGETS ARMENIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF AMERICA
armradio.am
16.06.2009 12:04
The Azerbaijani government responded today to the Armenian National
Committee of America’s (ANCA) reports of an emerging United States
foreign aid policy double standard toward the countries of the Caucasus
countries by circulating a press release bitterly attacking the ANCA
and spreading misinformation about aid levels to the region.
According to a news release placed on the PRNewswire, the Azerbaijani
Embassy set its sights on the ANCA’s recent criticism of the Obama
Administration’s proposed reduction in U.S. assistance to Armenia in
the face of proposed increases for Azerbaijan and Georgia, accusing
the Armenian American grassroots group of misrepresenting aid figures
to the states of the Caucasus.
"Either Azerbaijani Ambassador Yashar Aliyev is out spreading
falsehoods around Capitol Hill or he really needs to brush up on
his fourth grade math skills," said ANCA Executive Director Aram
Hamparian. "These publicly available figures are really rather simple
and should be easy enough for even a schoolchild to easily grasp:
a proposed 38% reduction in U.S. assistance to Armenia in the face
of a 20% increase to Azerbaijan, despite that country’s ongoing
blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and President Aliyev’s
continued threats of renewed war."
The Azerbaijani Ambassador’s response was to an ANCA Memo to Capitol
Hill, titled "Double Standards: U.S. Aid Policy in the Caucasus,"
released on June 11th, the day after the Millennium Challenge
Corporation effectively suspended a full third of its $235 million
grant to Armenia due to concerns over democratic governance. The
ANCA memo compared the harsh U.S. response to Yerevan’s actions, both
rhetorically and in terms of aid levels, to the increased financial
support that both Azerbaijan and Georgia are set to receive despite
their serious shortcomings in the areas of democracy, corruption,
and governance.