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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr., (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, released the following statement today regarding Armenia funding included in the Administrations' Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget, which was released to Congress on Thursday.
"Yesterday, the Administration presented a budget that broke with military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan and reduced Armenia’s economic aid by 37.5 percent. The budget allocates $3 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and $450,000 in International Military Education and Training (IMET) to Armenia, while providing Azerbaijan with $4 million in FMF and $900,000 in IMET funds. Economic assistance to Armenia, funded through the Freedom Support Act, totaled $30 million, an $18 million reduction from what Congress appropriated last year.
"Over the past year, President Aliyev of Azerbaijan has repeatedly made bellicose statements in regards to Nagorno Karabakh. We will work to uphold Section 907, which prohibits military funding to Azerbaijan. If this is not possible, we will work with Congress to restore the long-standing tradition of providing military parity between the two countries, which was promised in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks.
"As co-chairs of the Armenia Caucus, we are confident that as the FY10 appropriations process moves forward, Congress will increase economic assistance to Armenia beyond the Administration's budget proposal and will provide aid to Nagorno Karabakh."
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