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The Armenian Reporter | June 21, 2008Nationalby Yelena Osipova andEmil SanamyanWashington briefingObama reiteratessupport for Genocideaffirmation“I share your view that the UnitedStates must recognize the events of1915 to 1923, carried out by the OttomanEmpire, as genocide,” Democraticpresidential hopeful BarackObama said in a June 16 letter toKenneth Hachikian, chairpersonof the Armenian National Committeeof America (ANCA), the organizationreported the next day.Sen. Obama issued a similarstatement on April 24 saying that“it is imperative that we recognizethe horrific acts carried out againstthe Armenian people as genocide.”And in a January 19 statement“On the Importance of U.S.-ArmeniaRelations” Sen. Obama pledgedthat, if elected president, he wouldrecognize the U.S. record on ArmenianGenocide, support Armenia’sdevelopment, and work to achieve“a lasting and durable settlement”in Karabakh “that is agreeable toall parties, and based upon America’sfounding commitment to theprinciples of democracy and selfdetermination.”The latest communication fromSen. Obama came in response tothe ANCA’s letter listing Armenian-American concerns ahead of theJune 19 Senate confirmation hearingfor the Bush administration’snominee for ambassador to Armenia(see coverage elsewhere in thisissue).“The Bush Administration’s refusalto [recognize the Genocide]is inexcusable, and I will continueto speak out in an effort to movethe Administration to change itsposition,” Sen. Obama wrote in hisletter.Meanwhile, the Turkish media,including the Turkish Daily News onJune 6, have reported on Turkey’sefforts to foster relations with Sen.Obama’s campaign team in part tochange his position on Armenianissues.Speaking at the Claremont GraduateUniversity on June 10, TurkishConsul General in Los AngelesHakan Tekin noted “that the lastthree presidents of the UnitedStates, they also had similar statementsduring the elections,” butdid not deliver on their pledgeswhen elected, Peter Musurlian ofGlobalist Films reported via www.youtube.com on June 16.At the same time, Mr. Tekin suggestedthat Turkish public mayalready favor Sen. Obama over hisRepublican candidate Sen. JohnMcCain who has consistently refusedto promise to change the U.S.policy on the Armenian Genocide.Senate Committeeurges U.S. to keep focuson Central Asia energySen. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.) reiteratedhis concerns over Russianinfluence on energy supplies to Europein a Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee hearing on June 12. Sen.Lugar, who serves as the committee’sranking member (most seniorRepublican), touted Azerbaijan asan example to Central Asian states.“Central Asian nations need onlylook across the Caspian Sea toAzerbaijan to gain a sense of thepolitical benefits of maintaining asecond option for oil and gas exports,”he said in his opening speechin reference to the pipelines nowlinking Azerbaijan, Georgia, andTurkey and thus bypassing Russia.The United States has since soughtto link up oil from Kazakhstan andgas from Turkmenistan across theCaspian to Azerbaijan to be thentransported to Turkey and Europe.Barack Obama.Sen. Lugar also urged the trans-Atlantic community not to take“progress in Georgia and Azerbaijanfor granted” and continue to bolsterties with them. He welcomedthe recent appointment of the U.S.envoy to the European Union toalso serve as envoy on Caspian energy;both he and Committee chairSen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) have insistedon that since last year.“Ambassador C. Boyden Gray’sappointment lends significantweight to this initiative by virtue ofhis close relationship with PresidentBush,” Sen. Lugar said. Mr. Gray, aswell as the State Department’s twodeputy assistant secretaries SteveMann and Matt Bryza, visitedBaku earlier this month to discussenergy cooperation, Trend newsagency reported on June 3.Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, asenior advisor in Sen. BarackObama’s presidential campaignand national security advisor inCarter Administration, sharedmany of Sen. Lugar’s concernsabout Russia.“We should be more active in negotiatingparticularly with thosenon-Russian suppliers who in thelong run want to be accessible forthe world, but in the short run aresqueezed [by Russia],” he said, addinghowever that “long-term interdependencebetween the West andRussia” can have a mutually beneficialeffect.U.S.-Russia nuclearenergy deal discussedin CongressDemocrats in Congress have questionedthe administration’s trustin Russia and its willingness toset the U.S.-Russia Civil NuclearAgreement into force. PresidentGeorge W. Bush submitted theagreement to Congress on May 13for review.The deal is part of U.S. efforts towin international support for U.S.-championed sanctions againstIran while facilitating U.S. companiesin their efforts to secure newnuclear power plant constructioncontracts internationally. A similardeal on nuclear energy withTurkey came into force on June 2following congressional approvalearlier this year. (See this page inthe February 9, 2008 ArmenianReporter.)At the June 12 House ForeignAffairs Committee hearing, concernsfocused on Russia’s unwillingnessto back the United Statesin imposing harsher sanctionson Iran over its nuclear program.President Bush made the issueof Iran sanctions the focus of histour of Europe that ended thisweek.“We want to hear whether, [theRussia-Iran nuclear weapons-related]cooperation has ceased – andwhat assurances, if any, Moscowhas given our government,” committeechair Howard Berman (D.-Calif.) asked Acting Undersecretaryof State John Rood.Mr. Rood responded that assurancesreceived were sufficient to“mitigate” U.S. concerns and thatthis agreement would establish alegal basis for a mutually beneficialnuclear cooperation internationally.“In [certain areas] Russia possessesexperience and facilities not widelyavailable in the U.S.,” he said.Having Russia as the supplier ofIranian nuclear fuel will decreasethe likelihood of Iran enriching itsown uranium, Mr. Rood told thehearing. He added he has serioussuspicions about Iran himself, butsaid the United States needs Russiancooperation to promote globalnon-proliferation.Meantime, Rep. Edward Markey(D.-Mass.) disapproved ofPresident Bush’s recent promiseRichard Lugar.to also send nuclear equipment toSaudi Arabia.“This is a very dangerous policyand you have to have high standards[for countries you deal with]if you don’t want to see [a spreadof nuclear weapons in the] MiddleEast,” he said.Turkey seeks selfsufficiencyin weaponsproductionTurkey is working to achieve selfsufficiencyin arms and aspires tobecome a global arms supplier, accordingto a study made public atWashington’s Jamestown Foundationon June 17.The study’s author, Dr. AndrewMcGregor said that Turkey’s annualarms exports would reach $1.5billion in the next three years andthat the country is aggressivelyseeking to increase its marketshare. The author noted frequentdisputes between Turkey and itstraditional weapons supplier – theUnited States – as one importantmotive for boosting domestic production.Turkey is also modernizing itsown armed forces, which is alreadyone of the world’s largest, to betteraddress asymmetric threats posedby Kurdish insurgents, and “enableTurkey to remain a regional powercapable of independent action outsideits borders if it feels its nationalintegrity is threatened,” said Mr.McGregor.See http://www.jamestown.orgfor the full report.fSenate panel considers nominee to head Embassy in Armenian Continued from page for not doing so, citing efforts toreconcile Armenia and Turkey.Just two committee members,Senators Ben Cardin (D.-Md.) andRobert Menendez (D.-N.J.), werepresent as the testimony was deliveredlate on Thursday; other senatorssubmitted statements for therecord.Pressed by Sen. Menendez, whorepeatedly referred to U.S. documentsfrom throughout the 20thcentury describing the ArmenianGenocide, Amb.Yovanovitch saidshe could not deviate from administration’spolicy and use the term.Sen. Menendez described theadministration’s position on thematter as “ridiculous,” while alsoexpressing “great admiration” forthe nominee and her “modest answers.”Other committee members, includingSenators Barbara Boxer(D.-Calif.) and Barack Obama(D.-Ill.) (see this week’s WashingtonBriefing on this page) issuedwritten statements criticizing theadministration’s policy on the ArmenianGenocide.In his statement, committeeRanking Member Richard Lugar(R.-Ind.) suggested that the absenceof a U.S. ambassador fromArmenia has been “detrimental toboth U.S. and Armenian interests.”The Armenian government hasexpressed the wish to see a newambassador to Armenia approvedas soon as possible. The new nominationcomes at a difficult period inU.S.-Armenia relations stemmingfrom U.S. criticism of the Armeniangovernment’s handling of theFebruary 2008 presidential electionand its aftermath.Ambassador Yovanovitch was introducedby former Senate majorityleader and longtime Armenian-American ally Robert Dole, whosubstantiated the need for a U.S.Ambassador in Yerevan by citing“very serious problems” in a “politicallyweak” Armenia.Sen. Cardin, also a supporter ofArmenian-American issues, usedthe opportunity to question thecredibility of the Armenian government’sdescription of the March1 violence and asked whether theUnited States continued to pressfor an independent inquiry. (Sen.Cardin, who is co-chair of the bicameralHelsinki Commission, alsocriticized the government at thatcommission’s hearing on Armeniaheld in April.)While calling the post-electionsituation “disturbing” in her writtentestimony, Ambassador Yovanovitchacknowledged the recentestablishment of a parliamentarycommission to examine the clashesbetween police and demonstrators.In her testimony, she noted thatthe United States seeks “to help theArmenian government and the Armenianpeople restore democraticmomentum” and that “it is up tothe Armenian government to takethe necessary steps, so that the[Millennium Challenge] Compactprogram could continue.” (See astory on the program on page 4.)Citing Armenia’s economic progressand security cooperation withthe United States and NATO, shedescribed U.S.-Armenia relationsas “broad and deep” and pledged tostrengthen the bilateral “partnership”if approved as ambassador.The post of the U.S. ambassadorto Armenia has been vacant sinceSeptember 10, 2006, when theState Department recalled AmbassadorJohn Evans ahead of timebecause he used the term Genocidein public remarks in the UnitedStates in 2005.The president nominated AmbassadorRichard Hoagland toreplace Mr. Evans. Mr. Hoagland’sresponses to the Senate committeewere construed as a denialof the veracity of the ArmenianGenocide, and committee approvalwas uncertain. After Mr. Hoaglandrevised his answers in writing,the committee approved hiscandidacy. However, it never cameto a vote in the full Senate becauseSen. Menendez used a Senateprocedure under which he wasable place a “hold” on the mattercoming to a vote. The president renominatedMr. Hoagland in 2007,but Sen. Menendez continued toblock a vote. The president finallywithdrew the nomination.In the meantime, the U.S. missionin Armenia has been led bychargés d’affaires. The first wasDeputy Chief of Mission AnthonyGodfrey; at the expiration of histerm, retired Ambassador RudolphPerina was sent to Armenia forsome three months as chargé. Thepost is now held by Deputy Chief ofMission Joseph Pennington.Ambassador Yovanovitch is a 22-year veteran of the Foreign Servicewho just concluded a three-yearassignment as U.S. ambassador toKyrgyzstan. Prior to that appointment,from August 2004 to May2005, Ms. Yovanovitch was senioradvisor to the then-Undersecretaryof State for Political Affairs MarcGrossman.From August 2001 to June 2004,Ms. Yovanovitch was deputy chiefof mission at the U.S. Embassy inUkraine. From May 1998 to May2000, Ms. Yovanovitch was deputydirector of the State Department’sRussia Desk; she had beenposted with embassies in Canada,Russia, the United Kingdom, andSomalia.Her educational background includesa B.A. in history and Russianstudies from Princeton Universityin 1980 and a master’s from the NationalWar College in 2001.Born in Canada to parents of Serbianand Russian descent, she grewup in Connecticut and is fluent inRussian and French.f
The Armenian Reporter | June 21, 2008InternationalState Department, Congressional panel discussU.S. policy in Armenia and its neighborhoodArmenian Genocide,Turkish blockade,Karabakh are focusof hearingby Emil SanamyanWASHINGTON – The Foreign AffairsCommittee of the House ofRepresentatives and the AssistantSecretary of State for Europe andEurasia on June 18 held a rare publicdiscussion of U.S. policies in theCaucasus region.The hearing, titled “Caucasus:Frozen Conflicts and Closed Borders,”was an opportunity for lawmakersto express their discontentwith the Bush administration’s policyon the Armenian Genocide, lackof action on the Turkish blockadeof Armenia, and threats by Azerbaijanto go to war over Karabakh.The administration in turn usedthe opportunity to reiterate itsconcerns about Russia, Iran, andrecent domestic developments inArmenia and, to a lesser extent,Azerbaijan.The hearing was called by thecommittee chair Howard Berman(D.-Calif.), a member of the ArmenianCaucus, just weeks after Rep.Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) introduceda legislative measure titled “Endthe Turkish Blockade of ArmeniaAct” that, if passed, would requirethe Secretary of State to report onsteps taken by the United States toend Turkey’s blockade of Armenia.The legislation, introduced onMay 15, came as efforts to secureHouse adoption of the ArmenianGenocide resolution, passed in theForeign Affairs Committee last October,appear to have stalled in theface of unprecedented oppositionfrom the Bush administration.On the ArmenianGenocideAssistant Secretary Dan Fried answering questions from House Foreign AffairsCommittee members on June 18, with California Democrats Adam Schiff and JimCosta (right) in view. Photo: Armenian Reporter.Rep. Schiff, as well as Reps. JimCosta (D.-Calif.), Ed Royce (R.-Calif.), Brad Sherman (D.-Calif.)and Diane Watson (D.-Calif.),also used the opportunity to grillAssistant Secretary Dan Fried onthe administration’s opposition toGenocide affirmation. There wereheated exchanges.Like Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice last year, Mr. Friedavoided giving a yes-or-no answerwhen pressed on whether hethought the Armenian experiencein the Ottoman Empire should bedescribed as genocide. Instead heargued that congressional recognition“would not contribute” to thecause of improved relations betweenArmenia and Turkey.Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) wasthe lone committee member to expresssupport for this position ofthe administration, saying that itwas not up to Congress to “bestow”terms on the “awful thing” thathappened to Armenians.Secretary Fried did acknowledgethat the record on “mass killings”and “forced exile” of Armenianswas “very clear” and that the administration“never denied theseevents” and that the president continuesto mark them annually in astatement.He went on to say: “I’ve made itclear to everyone in the EuropeanBureau that they are welcome topresent any alternative views onthis or any other issue in-house,and I’ve made clear that such viewswill be heard and respected.”On Turkey’s blockadeMr. Berman began the hearing bynoting that Turkey’s closure of itsland border was “quite possibly illegal,”citing Ankara’s obligationsunder the Treaty of Kars and regulationsof the World Trade Organization,of which both Turkey andArmenia are members.“It’s baffling why Ankara wouldwant to pursue this land blockade,which also harms the economyof eastern Turkey [and] seemsmanifestly contrary to the strategicinterests of Turkey, whichpurports to be a solid member ofthe Western alliance,” Mr. Bermanargued.“The land blockade has done absolutelynothing to persuade Armeniato alter its policies on theNagorno-Karabakh issue – the ostensiblecause of the land blockadein the first place. Nor is there anyprospect that it will do so,” Mr. Bermancontinued.“Armenia has demonstrated itsresolve to support the Armeniansof Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey ismore likely to win influence withthe Armenian government if itpursues a policy of good-neighborlinessthan if it slams the borderclosed,” he said.In response, Mr. Fried pointedto direct air links between Armeniaand Turkey and trade conductedthrough Georgia, also frequentlycited by officials from Ankara asevidence that Turkey was not quiteblockading Armenia. He said thatthe United States would certainlywelcome an opening of the landborder as well and that such anopening should not be linked tothe Karabakh peace process.But when pressed by Reps. Costa,Royce, and Schiff, Mr. Fried didnot reveal any steps to achieve theborder opening beyond raising theissue.Meantime, Turkish Caucusco-chair Rep. Robert Wexler (D.-Fla.) said that he remained “hopeful”that Armenia and Turkey willfind ways to improve relations,pointing to the recent exchangeof messages between the two governments.Mr. Fried said he agreed thatthe exchange was “promising” andeven suggesting that such an improvementcould come “quickly.”But in his testimony he acknowledgedthat reconciliation betweenArmenia and Turkey will requiresteps that “will not be easy.”Howard L. Berman’s opening statement“Turkey needs to come to termswith a dark chapter in its history:the mass killings and forced exile ofup to 1.5 million Armenians at theend of the Ottoman Empire,” hesaid. “For its part, Armenia mustbe ready to acknowledge the existingborder and disavow any claimon the territory of modern Turkey,and respond constructively to anyefforts Turkey may make.”On KarabakhMr. Berman, Mr. Royce, Mr. Sherman,as well as the ArmenianCaucus co-chairs Reps. Joe Knollenberg(R.-Mich.) and FrankPallone (D.-N.J.), who althoughnot committee members took partin the hearing, also expressed concernsover Azerbaijan’s posturingin the Karabakh conflict.Mr. Berman suggested that as inthe Middle East, U.S. policy shouldnot be solely focused on achievinga peace agreement but that theUnited States should also reducetensions by promoting mutuallybeneficial projects between partiesto the conflict.Mr. Knollenberg and Mr. Roycereferred to increases in Azerbaijan’smilitary spending and quotedstatements of its president, IlhamAliyev, about his readiness to goto war; they wondered what UnitedStates was doing about that.Mr. Fried, while describing Azerbaijan’s“bellicose” rhetoric as “unhelpful,”disagreed that it intendedto go to war, pointing to the recentmeeting between Mr. Aliyev andPresident Serge Sargsian of Armenia.“We’ve also explained to them,frankly, that Azerbaijan’s wealthcomes from the export of gas andoil, and that a war puts that at riskvery quickly,” Mr. Fried said. Headded, “it is also the judgment ofthe United States that Azerbaijandoes not have a military superiorityover Armenia and that a warwould be costly to both sides andunwinnable by either one.”Also expressing “concern aboutAzerbaijan attacking Armenia becauseof a territorial dispute” waslongtime Turkey and Azerbaijansupporter Rep. Dan Burton (R.-Ind.). Pointing to a need for energyindependence, he also stressed theimportance of minimizing prospectfor conflicts in energy-rich areas,such as the Caucasus.Rep. Bill Shuster (R.-Penn.), cochairof the recently establishedAzerbaijan caucus, who was alsoinvited to the committee hearing,noted Azerbaijan’s cooperationwith the United States on energyand security issues and wonderedwhether Congress should accedeto the “Muslim ally’s” requests andfully repeal restrictions on U.S. assistanceto Azerbaijan, known asSection 907 of the Freedom SupportAct.Secretary Fried responded thatexisting conditional waiver authority,approved by Congress in 2001,provides sufficient opportunitiesfor the United States to conductrelations with Azerbaijan.Mr. Pallone and Mr. Sherman arguedthat the United States shouldmove to expand relations with theNagorno-Karabakh republic andrecognize its people’s right to selfdetermination.“We supported the independenceof Kosovo, and we ought to takesome of the same attitudes and applythem to the NK conflict,” saidMr. Sherman, while Rep. Pallonesuggested “de facto” recognition ofKarabakh’s independence and liftingof existing restrictions on U.S.engagement with Karabakh.Other concernsSecretary Fried referred during thehearing to the continued tensionsbetween Russia and Georgia overthe breakaway region of Abkhazia,suggesting that “unremitting anddangerous pressure from Russia”on U.S.-supported Georgia “risk[s]igniting a wider conflict.”Mr. Fried also touched on U.S. effortsto undermine Russia’s dominanceof Eurasian energy marketsby facilitating energy developmentin Azerbaijan and Central Asia.Concerns about Russia’s as wellas Iran’s policies were also expressedby Reps. Gene Green (D.-Tex.), Ted Poe (R.-Tex.), DavidScott (D.-Ga.), and others.Mr. Berman, the committeechair, specifically asked Mr. Friedwhether any of the Caucasus countriessupplied Iran with uranium,saying a rumor to that effect wasgoing around. Mr. Fried said he wasunaware of any such supplies, butwould check further.Finally, Rep. Joe Wilson (R.-S.C.) asked whether Islamic radicalsfrom Al Qaida had infiltratedany part of the Caucasus. SecretaryFried responded that such effortshad been made in Russia’s NorthCaucasus and Azerbaijan, but notin Georgia or Armenia. f—Yelena Osipovacontributed to this story.Delivered at thehearing, “TheCaucasus: FrozenConflicts and ClosedBorders”Between the Black Sea and theCaspian Sea lie the countries of theCaucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan,and Georgia. Due to disputes thathave festered over the course ofmany years, there are enough compellingquestions involving thesethree countries and their neighborsto occupy us all day long. Duringthe course of this hearing I’dlike to focus on the frozen conflictsaffecting economic and politicalintegration in the region, and howU.S. foreign policy is responding tothem.I’d like to start with one of themost puzzling and problematicmatters: the Turkish land blockadeof Armenia, in place since 1993. It’sa punishing policy that holds theArmenian economy back and enormouslyincreases the cost of muchof Armenia’s trade with other nations.The land blockade is also, quitepossibly, illegal, as it seems tobreach Turkey’s undertaking inthe 1922 Treaty of Kars to keepits border-crossings with Armeniaopen. And it violates the spirit ofthe World Trade Organization, ofwhich both Turkey and Armeniaare members.It’s baffling why Ankara wouldwant to pursue this land blockade,which also harms the economy ofeastern Turkey, and is thereforeclearly contrary to its own interests.It’s no secret that many Turkishbusinessmen, especially in theeast, have been lobbying for liftingthe land blockade.It also seems manifestly contraryto the strategic interests of Turkey,which purports to be a solid memberof the Western alliance. Withoutan outlet to Turkey or Azerbaijan,Armenia is forced to rely on itsconnections to two of Turkey’s historicalrivals, Russia and Iran – andgiven how antithetical the Iranianregime is to the secular, modernTurkish government, it seems oddthat Ankara would want to undertakeany actions that will enhanceTehran’s influence in Yerevan.Continued on page mHouse Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Howard Berman (D.-Calif.) opens theJune 18 hearing, with the Committee’s Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R.-Fla.) Photo: Armenian Reporter.
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