WHITE HOUSE AGAIN PROPOSES BREAKING IN ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN MILITARY ASSISTANCE
- The Bush Administration, in its FY2008 federal budget, has proposed a 49% cut in aid to Armenia, and is - once again - seeking to break the agreement it struck with Congress more than five years ago to maintain parity in military aid levels to Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The President's budget recommends cutting U.S. economic aid to Armenia from the FY2006 actual level of $69 million to a proposed FY2008 level of $35 million.
ANCA (Armenian National Committee of America) reported, that moreover, the budget proposal does not include any specific assistance figures for Nagorno Karabakh. The proposed military aid cuts come in two broad categories, Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET). The proposed FY2008 FMF figure for Armenia is $3 million, a cut of $960,000, fully 30% less than the proposed FY2008 figure for Azerbaijan of $4.3 million.
The President is seeking only $300,000 in IMET for Armenia, down $538,000 from FY2006, a dramatic cut of 64%. In sharp contrast, the White House is proposing that Azerbaijan receive $1 million in IMET, a considerable increase over their FY2006 level of $823,000 and more than three times the IMET levels being proposed for Armenia. Overall, the President's budget proposes 38% less in U.S. military aid for Armenia than for Azerbaijan.
"We are troubled, once again, both by the President's breach of his agreement with Congress to maintain military aid parity to Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as by the drastic cut that he is proposing in economic development assistance to Armenia.
We look to our friends in Congress to help restore military aid parity and to substantially increase aid levels to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh that reflect Armenia's growing partnership with the United States, as well as the shared values and enduring friendship between the American and Armenian peoples," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian
The Foreign Operations Subcommittees of the Senate and House Appropriation Committees will now review the budget and each draft their own versions of the FY 2008 foreign assistance bill. The agreement to maintain parity in U.S. military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan was struck between the White House and Congress in 2001, in the wake of Congressional action granting the President the authority to waive the Section 907 restrictions on aid to Azerbaijan.
The ANCA has vigorously defended this principle, stressing that a tilt in military spending toward Azerbaijan would destabilize the region, emboldening the Azerbaijani leadership to continue their threats to impose a military solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
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The Bush Administration, in its FY2008 federal budget, has proposed a 49% cut in aid to Armenia, and is - once again - seeking to break the agreement it struck with Congress more than five years ago to ...
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WHITE HOUSE AGAIN PROPOSES BREAKING IN ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN MILITARY ASSISTANCE
- 1300 Death at the age of 53 of the Cilician Armenian King Levon the Third. He was the eldest son of King Hetoom the First.
- 1905 Fighting breaks out between Armenians and Azeri Turks in Baku, Yerevan, Gandja, and Shooshee.
- 1919 Opening of the Second Conference of Western Armenians, which first accepted formula about "Political Program of United and Independent Armenia".
- 1919 Start of the Western Armenians' Second Conference. There were 55 participants.
- 1980 In Bern (Switzerland) Swiss police arrest Hrair Max Kelinjian, a member of the illegal political organization "Justice Fighters for Armenian Genocide". He killed the Turkish Ambassador in Bern. After a trial lasting two years, he was condemned to two years' imprisonment.
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