[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17973]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 A PERMANENT NEGOTIATOR TO FACILITATE DIRECT TALKS ON NAGORNO KARABAGH 
                           MUST BE APPOINTED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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. Madam Speaker, the foreign operations appropriations 
bill, which this House is expected to begin debating later this week, 
contains an important provision that is extremely timely and deserves 
our support. Language in the foreign ops legislation addresses the need 
for a negotiated settlement to the Nagorno Karabagh conflict; noting 
that the important position of special negotiator for Nagorno Karabagh 
and NIS, the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union, 
regional conflicts is currently vacant.
  The Committee on Appropriations urged the Secretary of State to move 
forthwith to appoint a permanent special negotiator to facilitate 
direct negotiations and any other contacts that will bring peace to the 
long suffering people of the South Caucasus.
  Madam Speaker, Nagorno Karabagh is an historically Armenian populated 
region that declared its independence as the Soviet Union was breaking 
up. The neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan, which claims Nagorno 
Karabagh as part of its own territory, went to war to prevent Karabagh, 
known to the Armenian people as Artsakh, from achieving its 
independence.
  The people of Karabagh prevailed in battle and Azerbaijan agreed to a 
cease-fire in 1994 but, Madam Speaker, a permanent negotiated 
settlement acceptable to all sides has been elusive.
  The U.S. has played a leading role in the effort to resolve this 
conflict, as a co-chair of the Minsk Group, under the auspices of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
  The U.S. has had three of our diplomats serve in the post of special 
negotiator to try to resolve this conflict.
  Madam Speaker, the position of special negotiator recently became 
vacant with the departure of Donald Keyser, a career diplomat who moved 
on to another post in the State Department. Mr. Keyser, our third 
special negotiator, played a major role in shaping a new plan to settle 
the conflict, known as the Common State proposal.
  Despite their substantial reservations, both Armenia and Nagorno 
Karabagh agreed to the Common State proposal as a basis for 
negotiations. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan flatly rejected this proposal.
  Mr. Keyser worked very hard to move this process forward, so his 
departure leaves a major void. At this critical juncture, we must get 
another permanent special negotiator in place without delay, preferably 
either a very senior diplomat or perhaps another American recognized 
for leadership in public policy and public life, someone who can 
command the respect necessary to win the confidence of all parties to 
the conflict.
  To echo and amplify the language in the foreign ops bill, I will be 
circulating amongst our colleagues here a letter to President Clinton 
and Secretary Albright urging that they move to appoint a special 
negotiator immediately.
  Madam Speaker, two weeks ago Armenia's ambassador to the United 
States, Ambassador Rouben Shugarian, came to Capitol Hill to brief 
Members of Congress and our staff about the Nagorno Karabagh peace 
process, and one of the most positive developments of late has been the 
increase in direct contacts between the presidents of Armenia and 
Azerbaijan. The presidents of the two countries recently met privately 
in Geneva.
  The surprise announcement that came out of the meeting was a 
tentative agreement to have Nagorno Karabagh participate directly in 
the next session of face-to-face talks. While it may be too soon to 
talk of a breakthrough, Armenian President Kocharian stated that he 
believes Azerbaijan's President Heydar Aliyev is serious about 
achieving a solution to the Karabagh conflict. Ambassador Shugarian 
spoke at our recent meeting with cautious optimism about other avenues 
for direct talks, and it is important for this process to continue and 
indeed to be accelerated as much as possible.
  That is why today I want to stress that the presence of a permanent 
U.S. special negotiator to facilitate direct negotiations and other 
contacts is extremely important at this time. I urge the administration 
to act quickly to appoint a new and permanent special negotiator.

                          ____________________