WASHINGTON, DC – Senator George Allen (R-VA), in his capacity as chairman of the Senate panel holding a confirmation hearing earlier today for the next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, stressed that in order “to ensure that the United States remains an honest peace broker, I believe it is essential that we maintain strict parity with regard to foreign military financing or FMF funding” to Armenia and Azerbaijan, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

The statement comes in response to President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2005 budget proposal, which would break the agreement to maintain military aid parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The budget, released on February 2nd, proposes $2 million in Foreign Military Financing for Armenia and $8 million for Azerbaijan.

The proposal contradicts the agreement struck in 2001 between the White House and Congress to maintain parity in U.S. military aid levels to Armenia and Azerbaijan. This understanding, which was shared with representatives of the Armenian American community during a February 21, 2002 meeting with National Security Council officials, resulted in equal levels of military aid being appropriated to these two nations in Fiscal Years 2002, 2003, and 2004. This parity contributed meaningfully to stability in the Caucasus.

Since the release of the President’s budget, the Armenian American community has participated in ANCA WebFax, letter writing and phone campaigns, urging the House and Senate Appropriations panels to ensure continued military aid parity to Armenia and Azerbaijan. In a recent memo to key Senate and House members, ANCA Government Affairs Director Abraham Niziblian argued that, “a tilt in military spending toward Azerbaijan would destabilize the region, emboldening the new Azerbaijani leadership to continue their threats to impose a military solution of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict. More broadly, breaching the parity agreement would reward the leadership of Azerbaijan for walking away from the OSCE Key West peace talks in 2001, the most promising opportunity to resolve the Nagorno Karabagh conflict in nearly a decade.”

Nominee John Marshall Evans Pledges to Work to Strengthen U.S. – Armenia Bilateral Relations

Career Foreign Service Officer John Marshall Evans, in his oral testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed his commitment to “working with this and other relevant Committees of the Congress, with the Armenian people, the Armenian Government, and with the Armenian American community to further the foreign policy goals of the United States.” He went on to note the U.S. commitment to strengthening democracy and economic prosperity in Armenia. Citing the recent announcement of Armenia’s eligibility for Millennium Challenge Account funding, Evans noted that the move “presents a unique opportunity for our two countries to strengthen our bilateral cooperation while meeting some of today’s most difficult challenges head on.”

During the question and answer period, Sen. Allen asked Evans to comment about the effectiveness of U.S. assistance to Armenia. Evans noted that reports using non-U.S. indicators measuring the democratic and economic progress of Armenia show that, “we are making progress and we are trying to quantify it as effectively and scientifically as we can.”

In response to a question on the debilitating effects of the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades of Armenia, Evans stated that “the estimate is that were the border for Turkey to be reopened, it could make as much as a 50% difference in Armenia’s trade situation.”

“We want to thank Senator Allen for his forceful defense of maintaining strict military aid parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Keeping our military assistance packages to these two nations at equal levels will contribute to regional stability, restrain the increasingly violent rhetoric of the Azerbaijani leadership, and ensure that the United States can continue to act as an impartial mediator in the Nagorno Karabagh peace process,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. “We would also like to express our appreciation to John Evans for his willingness to follow in the tradition of past ambassadors to Armenia – Harry Gilmore, Michael Lemmon, and John Ordway – in working closely with the Armenian American community on the full range issues on the U.S.-Armenia agenda.”

John Marshall Evans joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1971. He has held posts in Iran, Czechoslovakia, Russia and with the OSCE among other positions. He currently serves as Director of the Office of Russian Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in the State Department, with the rank of Minister-Counselor.

During the confirmation hearing, other candidates presenting testimony included Mr. Charles P. Ries, nominated for U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic and Mr. Tom Korologos, nominated for U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

During the hearing, Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) urged both Evans and Reis to make a special effort to learn Armenian and Greek, respectively, in an effort to better communicate with their counterparts in their upcoming posts. Sen. Sarbanes had met privately with all three candidates prior to the confirmation hearing.

Full Senate confirmation of all three candidates for ambassadorships is expected soon.

The complete text of Mr. Evans’ oral testimony, as well as, the question and answer session dealing with Armenian American concerns follows. The complete written testimony presented by Evans to the Senate panel will be available soon.

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Selected Statements from the Senate Foreign Relations Confirmation Hearing for John Marshall Evans, Nominated to Serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia

Sen. George Allen (R-VA) – [during his opening remarks]: I have long believed that the United States must remain engaged in the South Caucasus remnants of the former Soviet Union. Ongoing conflicts and corruption in this part of the world remain a great concern to both regional and global stability. Particularly, I have had a long-standing interest in Armenia and the history of the Armenian people; understanding that the relations, though, between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be tenuous and a very fragile peace exists. To ensure that the United States remains an honest peace broker, I believe it is essential that we maintain strict parity with regard to foreign military financing or FMF funding to both nations. I also remain concerned that the continuing blockades of Armenia are obviously troublesome. Our government, in my view Mr. Ambassador, when you are confirmed, our government needs to do more to compel Turkey and Azerbaijan to fully end these blockades and the negative effects these have on the Armenian economy.

Mr. John Marshall Evans [Oral statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee]: Mr. Chairman, we and the Armenians are no strangers to each other. Many Americans are, of course, of Armenian background, and if you read my full statement you will know that I have learned that there was an Armenian at the Jamestown settlement as early as 1619.

We have interacted, we and the Armenians, over many years in good times and bad. Americans sympathize deeply with the plight of those Armenians who suffered and perished in the declining years of the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of Armenians have come to our shores and enriched our country in a myriad of ways. In 1988 when a terrible earthquake struck Armenia, it was only natural for the United States to react immediately with rescue teams and reconstruction assistance. I am very proud to have been heavily involved in that effort, serving as Deputy Director of the Soviet desk at the State Department.

Today, the Republic of Armenia and the United States face many shared challenges. Terrorism and political and economic instability are our common enemies. The U.S. aims to promote security, stability, democracy and prosperity in the Caucasus. We are helping Armenia build a new society based on democratic principles and the rule of law. Recently Armenia was selected as a potential recipient of a Millennium Challenge Account grant. I believe this presents a unique opportunity for our two countries to strengthen our bilateral cooperation while meeting some of today’s most difficult challenges head on.

Mr. Chairman, if confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working with this and other relevant Committees of the Congress, with the Armenian people, the Armenian Government, and with the Armenian American community to further the foreign policy goals of the United States.

Mr. Chairman, as you mentioned earlier, I have served previously in Tehran, Prague – twice actually in Prague – Moscow, and St. Petersburg as well as the NATO headquarters in Brussels, and in the OSCE system. I also spent a semester at the Woodrow Wilson center reading Ottoman History. So I think, in a sense, I have been circling around Armenia for some time. If confirmed, I will do my very best, to learn some of that most difficult, but as I understand, beautiful language. I am very grateful to Senator Sarbanes for his moral support in emphasizing the importance of this and I certainly will report what you said to the State Department.

Question and Answer Session during the Senate Confirmation Hearing:

Sen. George Allen (R-VA): I would like to ask you Mr. Evans, the US has provided assistance to Armenia, been a strong supporter as have certainly a majority of this Committee – are strong supporters of assistance to Armenia. Could you assess how this assistance to Armenia has furthered the interest of the United States?

Mr. John Marshall Evans: It’s important to keep in mind what our goals are. Our goals in the South Caucasus are to create conditions of stability, security, growing prosperity, and also growing democracy. We’ve spent cumulatively about $1.5 billion, I believe now. There is a very fine report that came out in January on the current state of our assistance. What it shows is that we are now trying to graph the effectiveness of our system using indicators that are independent of the U.S. government. So we use economic indicators derived from the EBRD on one axis and we use Freedom House indicators on another axis. And if you look at the development of Armenia, it’s a bit of a sigmoid curve. There was constant movement up on the economy. There have been some zig-zags on democratic development. But the overall movement is in the right direction and I very much recommend the full report to you and your staff. We are making progress and we are trying to quantify it as effectively and scientifically as we can.

Sen. Allen: Would you comment then on the effect of the closed borders on Armenia. You mentioned that the economy is going in the right direction, but so far as the closed borders of Turkey and Azerbaijan [. . .] What is your perspective?

Mr. Evans: A glance at the map makes it very clear that Armenia is in a very difficult position and must depend on being a transportation corridor. Armenia sits right in the South Caucasus between Iran and Turkey and Azerbaijan and Georgia and two of its four borders are currently closed, as you mentioned, those with Turkey and Azerbaijan. The estimate is that were the border for Turkey to be reopened, it could make as much as a 50% difference in Armenia’s trade situation. . . . No one knows precisely, but that is a pretty good estimate. It also would have a huge effect on reducing Armenia’s energy bill, because at the moment, the single source of natural gas, for example, comes from Russia and a lot of gasoline is trucked into Armenia, so the energy costs are very high. We are frequently in conversation with our Turkish colleagues trying to persuade them that the time is come to open the border with Armenia, which would also be a very good thing for the Eastern Provinces of Turkey.

Sen. Allen: Thank you and you will certainly have this Senator’s support to encourage Turkey to reopen that border without preconditions.

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