calendarlive.com, CA
March 11 2006
Music Review
London Philharmonic fill-in wields a cannon for a baton
By Mark Swed, Times Staff Writer
Osmo Vänskä is a vivid conductor. He’s a deft musician, an intensely
physical leader, a manic musical chef whose hands and arms never stop
stirring, chopping, blending, stirring some more. He seems everywhere
at once, making sure that each section of the orchestra and each
individual instrument does his bidding. The sounds he gets are
intense, resonant, three-dimensional, powerfully inviting. He goes in
for loud, blow-you-away climaxes.
What Vänskä wants, Vänskä gets.

The Finnish conductor has been a big hit stirring, chopping, blending
in Minneapolis since taking over the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003. He
was a big hit with the audience at UCLA on Thursday night when he
made a last-minute Los Angeles debut conducting the London
Philharmonic Orchestra at UCLA.
Kurt Masur, the LPO’s music director since 2000, became ill last
weekend while conducting in Dublin and was rushed to the hospital
during intermission. He is now recovering from a viral flu. It is not
yet known whether he will be able to rejoin the orchestra on its U.S.
tour, which began Wednesday in Santa Barbara and reaches the Orange
County Performing Arts Center next week. Though a more sober
interpreter than Vänskä, Masur’s a control freak as well.
So what happens when one control freak fills in for another? I can’t
cite the physical or psychological laws involved, but what transpired
Thursday in Royce Hall had something to do with more becoming an
unreasonably whole lot more but seeming like less.
Vänskä accepted Masur’s relatively lightweight program of engaging
early works by Benjamin Britten, Mozart and Richard Strauss, along
with Khachaturian’s gooey Violin Concerto, and made everything
equally heavy. In fact, he made it weigh a ton.
I suppose the critic’s job here is to try to distinguish between the
levels of showing off that were gaudily on display in Royce. Like
Esa-Pekka Salonen and the many other Finnish conductors spectacularly
populating the international scene, Vänskä is a product of Helsinki’s
Sibelius Academy. But he is also, in a way, the anti-Esa-Pekka.
Salonen sided with the Modernists; Vänskä fell in with the
neo-Romantics.
He built his career not on the international stage but in the small
Finnish town of Lahti, at the same time attracting international
attention for hyperemotional, flashily recorded CDs of Sibelius
rarities.
Like Vänskä in Lahti, the LPO also has an outsider image. Of the five
major London orchestras, it ranks near the bottom in reputation. The
London Symphony is the most glamorous. The Philharmonia is known for
its spunk. The BBC Symphony is adventurous and not only media savvy
but part of the media. Only the languishing Royal Philharmonic gets
less respect than the LPO.
But just as he did with the New York Philharmonic, Masur, a
well-known disciplinarian, has clearly whipped the LPO into shape. I
might even say that the LPO sounded too good Thursday, which is where
Vänskä comes in. He began by blowing up Britten’s “Simple Symphony”
into an overinflated “Strenuous Symphony.”
A minor score for string orchestra written by an impossibly bright
and clever but still dorky teenager, the slight symphony charms with
its promise of things to come. Here, Vänskä got from the LPO such an
intense, extraordinary, suffocating thick string sound that the
“Sentimental Sarabande” slow movement became pompously lugubrious.
Pomp weighted down Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 too. Vänskä almost got
away with his big-orchestra approach, because he is such an
accomplished detail man, able to bring out all kinds of little inner
lines without ever breaking up the larger line of the piece. Still,
early Mozart can be only so sonically heavy without seeming
lumbering.
After intermission, a showy young violinist, Sergey Khachatryan, was
the sensation in the Khachaturian Violin Concerto. Even the program
notes, a fraction the size of those for the evening’s other works,
avoided the issue of the music, barely bothering to defend this
once-popular Soviet score by an Armenian composer.
Yet there could be no question that Khachatryan believes
wholeheartedly in the concerto. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1985, he
is a soulful young violinist with a dazzling technique. He seemed to
know exactly how much sentiment was needed where, and how much
bravura.
Vänskä, however, didn’t. His too assertive, too poignant approach
sounded, in this score, phony. Khachatryan has just made a beautiful
recording of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto (in a pairing with the
Khachaturian), and it’s too bad Vänskä couldn’t have been
accompanying that.
Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks” was a very noisy
conclusion to a long, noisy night. It was not merry. It was
overbearing. The LPO played superbly, and once more many interesting
details emerged from the massive onslaught. But enough was enough.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 11 2006
OSCE MG co-chairs to hold next meeting in Istanbul
11/03/2006 08:50
The Co-Chairs will hold next meeting in Istanbul on 20 March, says
statement issued by three Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group after a
meeting in Washington on 7 and 8 March to discuss the latest
developments regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The mediators expressed again their gratitude to the President of the
French Republic for making that meeting between President Robert
Kocharian and President Ilham Aliyev possible.
Assessing the current state of affairs in the region, the Co-Chairs
reaffirmed their belief that a great deal of progress has been
achieved in the past year and a half. They regret that the process
has not moved forward in recent weeks though, despite ample
opportunity to do so.
They urged both parties to build on the basic principles for a future
settlement that have already been developed in order to achieve an
agreement in 2006. Referring to their joint statement at the OSCE
Permanent Council on 2 March, the Co-Chairs continue to believe that
objective conditions make 2006 a highly favourable year for
substantial progress, and they call upon the Governments of Armenia
and Azerbaijan to work vigorously to achieve this result. The
Co-Chairs further call upon the Government of each country to take
steps with their publics to prepare them for peace, and not for war.
The Co-Chairs will decide on their next trip to the region after
further assessment of the readiness of the parties.

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
March 11 2006
Int’l conference on preparations for 14th economic forum of OSCE due in Baku
11/03/2006 08:45
An international conference dedicated to preparations to the 14th
economic forum of OSCE member-countries will be organized in Baku on
16-17 March 2006.
Baku office of the organization told Trend that the conference which
will focus on removal of risks in the sphere of transport security
within the OSCE will bring together over 100 delegates from foreign
countries.
Attending the conference will be an envoy of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, the OSCE coordinator on economic and
environmental issues and UN experts.
Baku for the first time will host a conference of such scale, which
is one of three preparatory events to be held under the 14th economic
forum of OSCE due in Prague in May 2006.
Meanwhile, Ulvi Akhundlu, spokesman for the Baku Office of OSCE,
noted that invitations for the conference had been sent to 55
ember-states of the organization, including Armenia.
`The conference is organized by the OSCE and the leadership of the
organization sent invitations to all member-countries of the
organization,’ Akhundlu, noting the absence of information on the
participation of the Armenian delegates at the event.

Washington Post
March 11 2006
Russia’s Shadow Empire
By Ana Palacio and Daniel Twining
Saturday, March 11, 2006; Page A19
Since 2003, democratic revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia have dealt
strategic blows to the ambition of Russia’s leaders to reconstitute
the former Soviet empire by retaining political and military
suzerainty over their weaker neighbors. But Russia’s imperial
pretensions along its periphery linger.
Calls from the elected presidents of Georgia and Ukraine for a united
Europe stretching “from the Atlantic to the Caspian” should embolden
Europe and the United States to help people aspiring to freedom in
other post-Soviet states end Russia’s continuing dominion over them
by rolling back the corrupting influence of Russian power in regions
beyond its borders. This task is especially urgent in countries where
Russian troops and political support sustain secessionist conflicts
that threaten aspiring new democracies and the security of the West.
Since the Cold War ended, Russian leaders have built a shadow empire
on the territories of Russia’s sovereign neighbors, extending Russian
power where it is unwarranted and unwelcome by sponsoring “frozen
conflicts” in southeastern Europe and the South Caucasus. This
behavior, designed to maintain political and economic influence
beyond Russia’s borders, impedes democratic development in states
that aspire to join the West. It exports instability, criminality and
insecurity into Europe. It threatens regional military conflict that
could draw in the United States and other powers. It also bolsters
anti-democratic forces within Russia who believe Russia’s traditional
approach of subverting its neighbors’ independence is a surer path to
security than the democratic peace enjoyed by the nations of Europe.
The frozen conflicts in the Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia, and in the Moldovan territory of Transdniestria, share many
characteristics. Russian troops fought on the side of local armies
when these regions broke away from their mother countries as the Cold
War ended. Russian officers continue to help train and command the
breakaway territories’ Russian-armed militias. The secessionist
leaders are all Russian citizens, some sent directly from Moscow, who
are maintained in power by the continuing presence of members of the
Russian military and security services. Secessionist political
leaders also enjoy the sponsorship of powerful criminal elites in
Russia, which profit from the unregulated smuggling trade — in
consumer goods, drugs, weapons and women — in the conflict zones.
Moscow has granted the people of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and
Transdniestria Russian citizenship, including Russian passports and
the right to vote in Russian elections. This effective annexation of
sovereign peoples is expressly designed to undermine the authority of
pro-Western governments in Georgia and Moldova.
Russian political and military influence also looms in the shadows of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Opposing armies that fought a bloody war over the disputed enclave in
the 1990s now shoot at each other from trenches across a “no-man’s
land” more reminiscent of Flanders in 1916 than the European
neighborhood in 2005. This barely frozen conflict threatens a hot war
that would devastate the region.
It is also the place where a breakthrough is perhaps most likely.
Western governments could support a settlement there in which Armenia
returned to Azerbaijan the occupied provinces surrounding the
disputed territory and allowed Azerbaijani refugees to resettle
there. Nagorno-Karabakh could enjoy full autonomy until its ultimate
status was decided by democratic referendum at some future date. In
return for Azerbaijan’s cooperation in ending a conflict that
threatens its growing prosperity, the West should welcome closer
partnership with that country as it moves forward with reform, end
residual sanctions against Azerbaijan dating from the 1991-94 war,
require closure of the Russian bases on Armenian territory that
threaten Azerbaijan, offer a mini-Marshall Plan for the entire South
Caucasus and put these countries on a path to Europe.
In South Ossetia, Europe and the United States should support
Georgian calls to internationalize the Russian-dominated
“peacekeeping” force, which now functions chiefly to obstruct changes
to the secessionist status quo. The United States and the European
Union should join Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia in a new
negotiating framework designed to achieve a lasting political
settlement consistent with international law.
In Abkhazia, the Atlantic democracies should push to transform the
U.N. observer mission into an armed peacekeeping force, hold Russia
to its 1999 promise on troop withdrawal and pledge assistance to
rehabilitate Abkhazia’s war-torn economy as part of a federation
agreement with Georgia. With the West, Ukraine can help bring change
to neighboring Transdniestria by continuing its recent crackdown on
cross-border smuggling, reinforcing Moldovan demands for a Russian
military withdrawal and supporting a political settlement upholding
Moldova’s sovereignty and the democratic rights of all its people.
Russia holds the key to any resolution of the frozen conflicts, and
the Western democracies are surely not powerless to foster a change
of Russian behavior in Europe’s back yard. President Vladimir Putin
must understand that his country cannot enjoy partnership with the
West — including membership in the G-8 club of Western democracies
and the chance to host their summits — as long as his policies in
the European neighborhood, and at home, look less like those of a
modern European statesman than of a czar.
Ana Palacio is the former foreign minister of Spain. Daniel Twining
is an Oxford-based consultant to the German Marshall Fund of the
United States. These are their personal views.

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
March 11 2006
EC draws up 10m euros plan on Azerbaijan for 2006-2007 – Samad
Seyidov

Source: Trend
Author: J.Shahverdiyev

11.03.2006

EC drew up 10m euros plan on Azerbaijan for 2006-2007, Trend reports
referring to Samad Seyidov, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to
PACE.
He noted that EC prepared concrete plans and issues on elimination of
some problems in Azerbaijan. Seyidov stressed that every measure
related to the working plan would be transparent. `Besides the
working plan of EC for 2006-2007, Azerbaijan also started intensive
activities on approval of the working plan with EU. It means that
Azerbaijan does not step aside from the chosen way, will continue the
cooperation with EU, CE and other international organizations,
regarding it as priority,’ Seyidov underlined.
Touching upon baseless accusations in regard to Azerbaijan by
international organizations, Seyidov noted that it was related to
positive moments existing in the foreign policy of the country.
Therefore, Armenians try to infringe the Azerbaijan’s image.

Rolling Stone
March 11 2006
System Cancel Benefit
SYSTEM OF A DOWN cancelled their fourth annual Souls Concerts, an
event aimed at raising awareness about Armenian Genocide, slated for
April 23rd in Los Angeles. The band did not cite a reason for the
cancellation but said on their official Web site, “System will always
continue to fight for this truly important cause, and encourages all
of our friends and fans to help educate the world about a forgotten
genocide and the importance of recognizing this atrocity.” Meanwhile,
the rockers will hit the road this summer as main stage headliners
for this year’s Ozzfest.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Glendale News Press
March 10 2006
Green eggs and learning
By Vince Lovato, News-Press and Leader
CYNTHIA PERRY News-Press and Leader
Ani Nazmanian and Michelle Garabetian watch in delight as their
teacher turning eggs green in honor of the birthday of Dr. Seuss.
Green eggs and learning
Former cemetery operator charged
Man gets 15 to life for murder
Residents put stop to substation
It’s all my parents’ fault
First-grade students at Chamlian Armenian School wore self-made paper
“Cat In The Hat” hats Friday and ate green eggs and ham in tribute to
Dr. Seuss’ 102nd birthday.
Unlike the fried eggs made famous by the Dr. Seuss book, these eggs
were scrambled but were green just the same.
Students from two classrooms gathered around Glendale City Councilman
Ara Najarian, whose nephew, Vahe Yacoubian, is a second-grader at the
school, as he read “The Cat In The Hat” to start the morning.
After the reading, teacher’s assistant Anna Avanessian whipped up the
eggs and mixed in green vegetable dye, which Nicole Abnous, 6,
declared “a magic potion.”
“I like when they do the fun tricks,” Nicole said about Thing One and
Thing Two in “The Cat In The Hat.”
Arman Manoukian, 7, also liked the chaos in the book.
“Everything’s a mess and the Cat In The Hat cleans it up,” Arman
said. “I like making messes but my mom just made me clean up the one
in my room.”
It was Arman’s first chance to taste green eggs.
“I liked the eggs green but I like the ham most of all,” he said.
Arman said he was an inventor so he can relate to Dr. Seuss.
“He’s very creative and I’m about as creative as he is,” said Arman,
who wants to be a military pilot. “Every day I make something
different with my toys.”
The green eggs and Dr. Seuss books were incentives to teach children
the joy of reading, teacher Souzy Ohanian said.
“It’s very good for the kids because they will be exposed to
different activities,” she said. “We integrate the curriculum
throughout the year.”
She ties the reading into lessons about eating healthy foods and
social studies.
“This will promote them to read more and show them how important
reading is in their daily lives,” Ohanian said.
She often allows students to read books at home then they are
“teacher of the day” and give oral reports for the class about the
books.
Najarian said he read Dr. Seuss to his children.
“Dr. Seuss is truly an American icon and it’s important that his
literature is passed on to all our generations,” Najarian said.
“I hadn’t read that book for seven years but every time you read it
you get something different from it. I’m glad it is part of the
multi-cultural education that Chamlian exposes to these kids.”

Glendale News Press
March 10 2006
X-Sender: Asbed Bedrossian
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 — ListProcessor(tm) by CREN
It’s all my parents’ fault
PATRICK AZADIAN
I had a discussion recently with an Armenian friend on the topic of
why Armenians in Glendale are getting a not-so-good reputation.
My friend left me with a thought: “Well, if the shoe fits, wear it.”
The remark was as much directed to me, as it was to herself.
The irony is, neither of us contributes to the making of this
infamous shoe.
What’s tainting the reputation of this community (food for future
columns), goes against all the values my parents have tried to
instill in me. And, I can’t say this quickly enough, my family is not
so unique.
Most of my friends and extended family members subscribe to these
values.
The general theme of my family’s value system has always revolved
around honest work, importance of family, education and respect for
others. There is also a strong sentiment against gaudiness,
materialism and superficiality.
I know I sound like a Republican presidential candidate, but I am not
willing to wear a shoe that does not fit.
The well-intentioned, and sometimes naïve, teachings of my parents
and grandparents began at young age.
I was probably only 6 when I was gifted a small white convertible toy
Ford Thunderbird. My maternal grandfather walked in from work and saw
me making imaginary noises while I pushed the American classic on the
crimson-colored Persian carpet: “Vroom, Vroom,” I said. He looked at
the model car and responded: “What, a toy! Let’s get you a book to
read!”
The man tried, and I resisted. It was not until I was 9 when I got a
taste of reading. Harsh rural circumstances forced me into it.
My family had temporarily relocated to a remote town for business
opportunities; television sets were scarce. Children’s magazines
became my saviors from boredom.
By the time the exile was over, I had enough interest in reading to
hijack my aunts’ glossy women’s magazines. They paved the way to
Albert Camus.
Books: Good. Flashy cars: Not so important.
My grandfather had planted the seed.
Like many teenagers across America, I had a valid driver’s license by
age 17. I also harbored the illusion that I had some rights to our
family’s brand new Chevy Malibu (at the time it was a cool car if you
lived in Sacramento) on the rare occasion I went out on a date.
I made the mistake of asking a classmate out to the movies, assuming
the metallic blue monster would be available to impress. My mom had
other ideas. “If she really likes you, she will go to the movies with
you on a bus.” she said.
I opted out of the date. I had enough wisdom to recognize that the
visual picture of my date and I hanging from the metal railings in
the bus, occasionally swaying back and forth at every stop was way
un-cool.
The message here was noble: People should like you for what you are,
not for what you have.
Another lesson was: As long as you get an education, you can study
whatever you like. This policy and my indecisive character probably
contributed to my dabbling in all sorts of academic majors.
Education: Good. Parents should only guide their children in life,
and not force their own dreams on their offspring.
My mom still works. And for the majority of his life, my father
started his workdays at 5 a.m. and returned home in the evening. His
workweeks were often six or sometimes seven days.
Honest work: Good.
On the rare occasions when my mom had a professional helping hand
around the house (some would call her a maid), she would insist the
lady from the less privileged part of town sit with us at the dining
table for lunch, an unorthodox concept even for today.
The message here was clear: Treat people with dignity and respect, no
matter where they are from or who they are.
I don’t consider my family values as Armenian, just human. Maybe they
are too idealistic, and a bit naïve for the world we live in. They
may even be misguided at times. But these are the values of my family
and many of my friends.
And if there are those in our city who commit wrongs, and they have
lost their way by coming into wealth too suddenly, and if they want
to take a shortcut to the dream of owning three SUVs and a palace on
the hills, well, those are their values, not mine, and not my
friends’.
* PATRICK AZADIAN works and lives in Glendale. He may be reached at
[email protected]

Caucaz.com, Georgia
March 11 2006
Georgia: What happened in Tsalka (Kvemo Kartli)?
Tbilisi, 11 March 2006 (sources: Ombudsman Press Office, Civil
Georgia) – On March 10 representative of the Ombudsman of Georgia
will visit Tsalka and meet Tsalka Gamgebeli (Head of Local
Administration), Chief of the local Police and local population.
Yesterday, on March 9, a clash which resulted into death of one and
injury of at least one local resident in multiethnic town of Tsalka
in Kvemo Kartli region, triggered protest of local ethnic Armenians.
Police said that five suspects have already been arrested. But
protesters in Tsalka demanded lynching of suspects on March 10.
`The Interior Ministry will never allow actions of this kind,’ the
Georgian Interior Ministry stated on March 10.
The Interior Ministry said that only one local was injured, but
according to the ethnic minority advocacy group Multinational Georgia
four ethnic Armenians were wounded as a result of an attack.
According to this non-governmental organization about 500 residents
of Tsalka were demanding at the rally outside the local police
station on March 10 an immediate investigation and prosecution of
those who are guilty of this crime. The protest rally was `brutally
dispersed’ by the police, according to the Multinational Georgia.
Clashes between the locals erupt sporadically in recent years in
Tsalka district with population of 20 000. Ethnic Armenians comprise
57% of population, according to the Georgian department of
statistics. 4,500 ethnic Greeks, 2,500 ethnic Georgians and up to
2,000 Azerbaijanis also live there.
Representative of the Ombudsman of Georgia will study the details of
the case on-site and find out, whether the clash happened on the
ground of ethnic discrimination.

Armenian National Committee of America
888 17th St., NW Suite 904
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 775-1918
Fax: (202) 775-5648
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet:
PRESS RELEASE
March 11, 2006
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
REPS. PALLONE AND RADANOVICH RALLY COLLEAGUES IN SUPPORT
OF PRO-ARMENIAN PROVISIONS IN FOREIGN AID BILL
— Call for Maintaining Military Aid Parity to Armenia
and Azerbaijan, Reversing the Administration’s Proposed
Cuts to Armenia, and Continuing Aid to Nagorno Karabagh
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressmen Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and George
Radanovich (R-CA) called on their U.S. House colleagues today to
join them in cosigning a letter calling on the leadership of the
House Foreign Operations Subcommittee to support pro-Armenian
provisions in the fiscal year 2007 foreign aid bill, reported the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
This bipartisan expression of support, addressed to the panel’s
Chairman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY),
strengthens the hand of pro-Armenian members of the Subcommittee,
most notably Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Joe Knollenberg, Steve
Rothman (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and John Sweeney (R-NY). Rep.
Sweeney, who joined the panel last year, is one of only two Members
of Congress of Armenian heritage.
The letter notes that members of Congress are “deeply troubled”
that the Administration’s request for military aid for Azerbaijan
is considerably higher then the request for Armenia. By signing
the letter, legislators will add their voice to the effort to
ensure that the agreement struck in 2001 between the White House
and Congress to keep aid levels to these two countries equal is
fully respected. In addition, the letter calls for a hard earmark
of at least $75 million for Armenia, a one-year $5 million
allocation for Nagorno Karabagh, and the preservation of Section
907 of the Freedom Support Act.
“We want to thank Congressmen Radanovich and Pallone in urging the
Foreign Operations Subcommittee to support provisions in the fiscal
year 2007 foreign aid bill of special importance to Armenian
Americans,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We also
value the advocacy for pro-Armenian issues from within this panel
by Armenian Caucus Co-Chairman Joe Knollenberg, the leadership of
Chairman Jim Kolbe and Ranking Democrat Nita Lowey, and the support
of Representatives Steve Rothman, John Sweeney, Mark Kirk, Jesse
Jackson, Jr., Carolyn Kilpatrick, Chaka Fattah, and our other
friends.”
The text of the Congressional letter is provided below.
#####
March 17, 2006
The Honorable Jim Kolbe
Chairman
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Appropriations
H-150, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Nita Lowey
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Appropriations
1016 Longworth
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Chairman Kolbe and Ranking Member Lowey:
Thank you for your leadership on the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Foreign Operations. As you prepare the FY2007 Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill, we write in support of Armenia and US-Armenia
relations and we respectfully request that you consider the items
described below in your bill.
Maintain Military Parity
We are deeply troubled that the Administration’s request for
Foreign Military Financing (FMF), Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism,
De-mining and Related Assistance (NADR), and International Military
Education and Training (IMET) funding for Azerbaijan is
considerably higher then the request for Armenia. We believe that
this imbalance simply cannot be allowed to occur.
Congress must ensure that Armenia’s level of FMF assistance is
raised to $4.5 million, NADR assistance is raised to $4.8 million,
and IMET assistance is raised to $855,000. U.S. policy toward the
south Caucasus has been to maintain parity between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. This policy was reached in agreement in Congress and
was maintained by President Bush in last year’s budget proposal. A
lack of military parity would undo this policy and weaken ongoing
peace negotiations regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. Furthermore, we
believe that any imbalance will contribute to further instability
in the region if Congress does not ensure military parity.
Therefore, we strongly urge you to include $4.5 million in FMF,
$4.8 million in NADR, and $885,000 in IMET funding for Armenia in
the FY2007 bill, equal to Azerbaijan.
Economic Assistance to Armenia
The dual blockades of Armenia by Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to
impede Armenia’s economic well-being. Despite these blockades,
Armenia continues to successfully implement economic and democratic
reforms. As long as Armenia suffers from blockades on its east and
west borders, continued and robust U.S. assistance to Armenia will
be needed to help minimize their impact. Our assistance has
provided an important positive effect and will continue to do so
when provided at appropriate levels. For fiscal year 2006, $75
million was provided for Armenia. Maintaining this level of
support is critical. Therefore, we request you include language
ensuring that not less than $75 million in Economic Support Funds
is appropriated for Armenia in Fiscal Year 2007.
Assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh
We thank you for your continued support for assistance to Nagorno-
Karabakh. This support is in our country’s interests and helps
alleviate the conditions of the Nagorno-Karabakh people. It is
important for Congress to maintain a strong position on this
funding to ensure that these programs continue. Therefore, we
request you include language directing USAID to spend $5 million in
Fiscal Year 2007 for programs in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Section 907
We request that you join us in opposing any changes to Section 907
in the fiscal year 2007 bill. Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support
Act remains a fundamental element of U.S. policy toward the south
Caucasus. Because Azerbaijan continues its blockade of Armenia,
Section 907 is necessary. As you know, the FY2002 Foreign
Operations Appropriations Act provided a limited and conditional
waiver to Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act in order for the
U.S. to effectively combat terrorism. Specifically, at the time,
former Secretary of State Colin Powell asked for flexibility to
counter terrorist elements and organizations operating within
Azerbaijan. We strongly support Section 907 and request that you
not make any further changes to this law.
We appreciate your consideration of these requests.
Sincerely,