[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 23, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PRESIDENT WAIVES CORRIDOR ACT YET AGAIN

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 23, 1997

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. The State Department has notified the House 
International Relations Committee of the President's intention to 
invoke the national security waiver clause of the Humanitarian Aid 
Corridor Act. That law bars U.S. assistance to any country which 
prohibits or restricts the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian 
assistance to other countries. The national security clause allows the 
President to waive the implementation of the law on the grounds of U.S. 
national security interests.
  The beneficiary of the administration's munificence is Turkey, which 
has refused since 1993 to let United States humanitarian aid transit 
its territory to Armenia. Referring to Turkey's ethnic kinship to 
Azerbaijan, which has been locked in conflict with Armenia over 
Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, and to the occupation of Azerbaijani 
territory by Nargorno-Karabakh Armenians, Ankara has closed all land 
routes to Armenia. The opening of an air corridor in 1995 has in no way 
mitigated the impact of this decision, which forces United States aid 
to transit Georgia.
  Last year, President Clinton also invoked the national security 
waiver clause of the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act, without bothering 
to inform Congress in advance. We learned of the administration's 
decision post facto, from Turkey's Foreign Minister, who announced it 
at a May 21, 1995, press conference. The waiver had actually been 
signed on May 16. This year, President Clinton, having learned his 
lesson and seeking to blunt criticism, at least gave Congress advance 
notification.
  President Clinton's graciousness in 1997 does not, however, 
compensate for maintaining a bad policy. The arguments in the 
administration's memorandum of justification for the waiver, neither 
individually or collectively, can explain away turning a blind eye to 
Ankara's flouting of basic principles of civilized behavior in the 
international community. True, Turkey has ethnic ties to Azerbaijan, 
and is a NATO ally, and the United States cooperates with Turkey on a 
spectrum of issues. But as I said when I introduced the Humanitarian 
Aid Corridor Act in February 1995, it should be an obvious and 
unobjectionable principle of U.S. assistance that countries keeping 
U.S. humanitarian aid from reaching third countries should not receive 
U.S. aid. Nothing has happened in the intervening 2 years to change my 
view on this subject. However close Turkey may be to Azerbaijan, Turkey 
is not a party to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. There is simply no 
reason for Ankara to block the delivery of United States humanitarian 
aid to Armenia. Moreover, as a member of the OSCE, Turkey has certain 
commitments: the 1991 Moscow Document calls on participating states to 
``cooperate fully to enable humanitarian relief operations to be 
undertaken speedily and effectively; to take all necessary steps to 
facilitate speedy and unhindered access for such relief operations; 
[and to] make the necessary arrangements for those relief operations to 
be carried out.''
  The administration's memorandum of justification is a poor attempt to 
defend the indefensible. Turkey is impeding the delivery of our 
humanitarian aid to refugees. That policy is unacceptable. So is the 
administration's policy of refusing to confront Ankara on this 
fundamental issue.

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