The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) circulated a memo to Congressional offices documenting the double standards used to set U.S. aid policy toward to the countries of the Caucasus “policies which have, in recent weeks, led to a proposed 38% cut in economic aid to Armenia.
APA&'s US bureau reports. They consider that it is the sharpest cut to any of the nations of Europe and Eurasia. Azerbaijani embassy in the US says that the letter is false on facts and insulting in substance.
“ANCA attempts to blame the U. S. Administration in double-standards but in fact, it pursues double-standards itself. ANCA compares appropriated funds for FY09 with requested funds for FY10 in case of Armenia, while for Azerbaijan and Georgia only requested funds are compared. True figure for Armenia is +25 percent (FY09 request was USD 24 million and FY10 is USD 30 million),” the embassy says.
Moreover, since independence in 1991, Armenia has always been a leading U.S. aid recipient enjoying USD 1.7 billion in aid.
In May of 2009, the State Department proposed a 20% increase in economic aid to Azerbaijan (it was $19.5 million in 2008), and to break military aid parity in favor of Azerbaijan (both Azerbaijan and Armenia received $3 million in 2008).
On September 9, 2008 the Millennium Challenge Corporation announced a potential $100,000,000 increase to Georgia and praised Georgia's “strong economic foundation and its impressive record of reform.” In May of 2009, the State Department asked for a 19% increase in economic aid to Georgia. This made the Armenians angry. They claim that human rights monitors, including the State Department, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, regularly criticize Georgia's conduct.
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