Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of maintaining our commitment to the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. While I support the language on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and direct aid allocation, I am disappointed that aid to Armenia is somewhat less than the fiscal year 2001 level of $90 million. Nonetheless, I am hopeful that the Senate and the conferees will correct this oversight in the coming weeks.
The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. It is this caring that stands as a hallmark of the United States around the world and shows the world our true character as a Nation.
Armenia alone among the New Independent States faces the unique challenge of developing its economy in the face of devastating blockades. The dual Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades have cut off Armenia's traditional trade routes and severely limited Armenia's access to the outside world.
As long as Armenia suffers from blockades on its east and west borders, continued and robust U.S. assistance to Armenia is necessary.
It is alarming that aid to Armenia has been decreased by 8 percent, while the administration has increased aid to Azerbaijan by 46 percent. Why are we rewarding a government that blockades its neighbor and was recently cited among the most corrupt nations in the world? Reducing aid to Armenia, while increasing aid to Azerbaijan, would send the wrong message about American priorities in the region.
Mr. Chairman, Azerbaijan continues to violate section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, a U.S. law enacted with bipartisan support in Congress and with the support of the Bush administration in 1992 in response to Azerbaijan's blockade of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
It is vital that the fiscal year 2002 foreign operations appropriations bill maintains section 907 of the Freedom Support Act without any weakening amendments or additional exemption being carved out. The reasonable and clear condition for lifting section 907 has not been met; and given the sensitive, ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh peace negotiations, section 907 must remain in place.
Mr. Chairman, let us not reward the Azerbaijani government, which is in violation of U.S. law. That same government, Mr. Chairman, has consistently been cited by our own State Department for its grim human rights efforts, as well as its flagrant violation of the most basic principles of democracy, free and fair elections.
We must apply a consistent set of conditions on foreign assistance recipients regarding their commitment to democratic principles, standards of international conduct, economic reform, and respect for human rights.
According to the State Department's 2000 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, who assumed presidential powers after the overthrow of his democratically elected predecessor in 1993, was reelected in October of 1998 in an election marred by serious irregularities, violations of election law and lack of transparency in vote counting at the district and national levels.
President Aliyev and his supporters continue to dominate the government and multiparty 125-member parliament. There were numerous serious flaws in the elections held in 2000. Serious irregularities included disqualifications of candidates, a flawed appeals process, ballot box stuffing, manipulated turnout results, premarked ballots, severe restrictions on domestic nonpartisan observers, and a completely flawed vote-counting process.
The constitution, which laudably establishes a system based on a division of powers among the presidency, legislature and the judiciary, unfortunately has been undermined by a judiciary which does not function independently of the executive branch and has proven itself corrupt and inefficient.
Severe disparities of income have emerged that contribute to patronage and corruption. In contrast, Mr. Chairman, the report by the State Department on Armenia says the following: "The Armenian government demonstrated the strength of its constitutional system following the tragic events of October of 1999. In the wake of the assassination of the Prime Minister and other top leaders, Armenia followed constitutional procedures and continued the normal business of government. Exchanges and training and partnership programs provide opportunities for current leaders and the next generation of Armenians to learn about the U.S. society and institutions firsthand and to forge personal ties with individual Americans and U.S. institutions. Armenia continues efforts to improve its business climate, increase investment and create jobs. The government is implementing final measures necessary for entry into the World Trade Organization.''
Finally, Mr. Chairman, the government has demonstrated a willingness to cooperate with the U.S. in preventing weapons of mass destruction, proliferation, and in fighting international terrorism. We must continue the pressure on both Turkey and Azerbaijan and increase our support to Armenia.