[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H5371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FOREIGN OPERATIONS BILL HAS SIGNIFICANT IMPLICATIONS FOR ARMENIA, 
               NAGORNO KARABAGH, AND U.S. CAUCASUS POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gutknecht). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Pallone) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, this week the Subcommittee on Foreign 
Operations of the House Committee on Appropriations is expected to mark 
up the fiscal year 2000 bill regarding foreign assistance and other 
programs vital to maintain and enhance American leadership throughout 
the world.
  This legislation is extremely important for the Republics of Armenia 
and Nagorno Karabagh as they emerge from the ashes of the former Soviet 
Union to establish democracy, market economies, and increased 
integration with the West. Thus, in my capacity as co-chair of the 
Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, I am asking my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to join with me this week in urging the members 
of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations to express our concerns on 
several key issues regarding Armenia, Nagorno Karabagh, and U.S. policy 
in the Caucasus region. This Subcommittee has many friends of Armenia, 
and I look forward to their support on these important issues.
  First, Mr. Speaker, we will be urging that the Subcommittee earmark 
assistance for the Republic of Armenia at the highest level possible. 
The legislation that has been adopted by the other body, the Senate, 
last month earmarks $90 million for Armenia, with a sub-earmark of $15 
million for the earthquake zone. We hope that the House subcommittee 
will consider providing a similar figure. It is important for the 
United States to maintain our support and partnership with Armenia as 
this country continues to make major strides toward democracy, most 
recently evidenced by the May 30 parliamentary elections. U.S. 
assistance also serves to offset the difficulties imposed on Armenia's 
people as a result of the hostile blockades maintained by their 
neighbors to the east, Azerbaijan, and to the west, Turkey.
  I would also like to see the subcommittee continue humanitarian aid 
for Nagorno Karabagh, an historically Armenian-populated region that 
has proclaimed its independence and exercises democratic self-
government but whose territory is still claimed by the neighboring 
country of Azerbaijan. The subcommittee took an historic step in the 
fiscal year 1998 bill by providing for the first time humanitarian 
assistance to Nagorno Karabagh. Unfortunately, much of that American 
assistance has not yet been obligated. I hope that the subcommittee, in 
the fiscal year 2000 bill, will make efforts to ensure that this 
assistance be fully obligated for the people of Nagorno Karabagh by 
directing the Agency for International Development to expedite delivery 
of this assistance.
  Mr. Speaker, another key priority is to maintain Section 907 of the 
Freedom Support Act, which restricts certain direct government-to-
government assistance to Azerbaijan until that country lifts its 
blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. Last year, the full House 
voted to strip a provision from the fiscal year 1999 bill that would 
have repealed Section 907, and last month the other body defeated a 
provision to waive Section 907. Clearly, there is a bipartisan 
consensus in both Houses that the conditions for lifting Section 907 
have not been met.
  Another way in which the Foreign Ops bill can make a big difference 
is by encouraging progress on the Nagorno Karabagh Peace Process. The 
U.S. has been one of the countries taking the lead in the peace 
process, as a co-chair of the Minsk Group under the auspices of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Late last year, 
the U.S. and our negotiating partners put forward a compromise peace 
plan, known as the ``Common State'' proposal, as a basis for moving the 
negotiations forward. Despite some serious reservations, the elected 
governments of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh have accepted this proposal 
in a spirit of good faith to get the negotiations moving forward, while 
Azerbaijan summarily rejected it. I hope the subcommittee would include 
language urging the administration to stay the course on the compromise 
peace proposal and to use all appropriate diplomatic means to persuade 
Azerbaijan to support it.
  To further promote the peace process, we would ask that the 
subcommittee consider language calling on the State Department to work 
with the parties to the conflict to initiate confidence-building 
measures. These measures should be geared both towards a reaching of a 
negotiated settlement, such as strengthening the current cease-fire, as 
well as for establishing a framework for better integration following a 
negotiated settlement, such as transportation routes and other 
infrastructure, trade, and increased people-to-people contacts.
  Mr. Speaker, I recognize that the members of this subcommittee are 
grappling with many competing demands in a complicated world with 
limited budgets. The fiscal year 2000 Foreign Ops Appropriations bill 
provides us with a chance to shape U.S. foreign policy for a new 
century and a new millennium. Armenia is a nation that measures its 
history in millennia, yet the Republics of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh 
are very young democracies that embrace many of the same values that 
Americans cherish.
  I hope that the legislation that the Subcommittee on Foreign 
Operations adopts this week will make a priority of supporting both 
Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh.

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