Armenian-US relations

[MJ]

ARMENIAN DEPUTY MINISTER WELCOMES US RESTRAINT POLICY IN CAUCASUS

 

YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS: Armenia's deputy foreign minister Tatoul

Margarian met on Thursday with a US military delegation, led by the deputy

commander-in-chief of US troops in Europe General Carlton Fulford.

According to Armenian foreign ministry, the two sides discussed both

US-Armenia and region-related issues.

The deputy minister was quoted by the foreign ministry press office as saying

that Armenia welcomes the US restrained and balanced policy in the Southern

Caucasus, which is in harmony with the principle of complementarity, a main

component of Armenia's foreign policy.

Specific programs on deepening bilateral contacts were discussed,

particularly arrangements were reached for US assistance in implementation of

mine-clearing actions and creation of an Armenian peace-keeping battalion.

[baboyan]

I'll be suprised if the U.S. sticks with what they say

[MJ]

ARMENIAN PRESIDENT ROBERT KOCHARYAN MEETS AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY

AND PLENIPOTENTIARY OF USA TO ARMENIA

 

YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Armenian President Robert Kocharyan met

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USA to Armenia

today. Ambassador John Ordway completes his three-year diplomatic

mission to Yerevan.

 

The press-service of the Armenian President told ARMINFO that

thanking the American diplomat for joint fruitful work, the president

gave a high assessment of John Ordway's activity in Armenia and his

efforts to deepen the Armenian-American relations. In his turn,

Ambassador Ordway thanked Robert Kocharyan for his contribution in

the course of the diplomatic mission to the country. The sides also

discussed the reforms in the country and the assistance by the

American Government. In conclusion, Robert Kocharyan wished success

to John Ordway in his further diplomatic activity,-M-

 

THE MILITARY IN ARMENIA

Exclusive interview of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of

the United States to Armenia John Ordway to Mediamax agency. Ambassador

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Armenia John

Ordway accomplishes his diplomatic mission in Yerevan. Before his departure

from Armenia he gave an exclusive interview to Mediamax agency.

 

- Your Excellency, what do you consider to be your biggest achievement

during your stay in Armenia, and, vice versa, your biggest disappointment?

 

- But I think that across the board in a number of areas we've had really

strong improvement in relations and in what we've been able to accomplish

here. The working of the US-Armenian Task Force, it's gotten much better,

has become a more detailed, much better and deeper cooperation. In the

agricultural area, I think what USDA [u.S. Department of Agriculture] is

doing has had a lot of impact and a lot of success in the rural areas in

Armenia. The military relationship has improved remarkably over the last two

or three years. And our relationship in law enforcement and the security

area has also been really developing, so there is much more actual

cooperation, not just talk but things that are happening and moving and we

are achieving results in those areas.

 

I think the biggest disappointment obviously is in the elections,

presidential and parliamentary elections [held in Armenia in 2003]. Those

clearly do not go nearly as well as we had hoped, or as I think most people

in Armenia had anticipated. In general I think developments in political and

civil society and in the media although not bad are proceeding more slowly

than we would like to see.

 

I think that when it comes to local politics, local government, NGOs that

are active, it shows that people here are engaged and that they do want to

have an impact on their society and the way they live their lives. But there

is a real gap and it is hard for people to have much faith or confidence in

the political system and in the political opportunities that are presented

to them. There is a real disconnect there. I think much more work needs to

be done by politicians, from both the government and the opposition as well

as the public itself to try to create more space, more ground in which a

good solid dialogue and public discourse can actually take place.

 

It's one of the reasons why we strongly urge the opposition to return to the

parliament, because we think that does offer an opportunity to work, even

when you disagree, to work together to try to achieve solid aims for the

country.

 

- Commenting on the appointment of John Evans, having headed the State

Department's Office of Russian Affairs, for the post of the new Ambassador

to Armenia, several Armenian media recalled that you have also worked in

Russia in your time. Stemming from this, there was drawn a conclusion that

the United States sends to Yerevan Ambassadors "with Russian background" as

the USA do not consider Armenia an independent country and perceive it as

"Russia's vassal". What can You say concerning this?

 

- I think that is a rather silly and facile analysis. I don't think it has

any connection with reality. If you look at the generation of diplomats who

have been working for the last twenty or twenty-five years in this part of

the world almost every single one of them will have experience in Moscow and

Russia.

 

But, with that background, when someone comes to Armenia or any other

country, that's just a background, the real work is to work with that

country. And the fact that we were the first country to establish an

embassy, to recognize Armenia's independence, to establish diplomatic

relations, the fact that we are building a very significant embassy is a

very, I think, visible demonstration of the fact that we do take Armenia

seriously as an independent country with its own views, with its own

security interests, that we want to deal separately and independently with

Armenia.

 

- Armenia-U.S. military cooperation started soon after you took up the post

of the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. What role did the terrorist acts

committed in the USA on 11 September 2001 and the global struggle against

terrorism play in this?

 

- We did have some efforts to try to build a relationship between our two

militaries even before September 11. We have had for a number of years a

military attaché here, who has had good relations with the military

establishment. We have our demining program which worked with the Ministry

of Defense to create humanitarian demining capability. We were looking for

ways in which we could engage, but it was very very limited by our hands-off

policy on actual military assistance for both Armenia and for Azerbaijan.

So, once September 11 had happened, once our security interest in the larger

region including the need for overflight access into Afghanistan became

clear, it became clear that the Caucasus and Central Asia would play a much

more important role in the military sense. And that was what led the

Administration to seek authority to waive section 907 of the Freedom Support

Act, which cleared away the legal barrier to allow U.S. assistance to

Azerbaijan and cleared away the policy prohibition against providing

assistance to Armenia without providing it to Azerbaijan. So as a result we

have set our military relations with both countries on a slightly different

plane, one that would involve significant amounts of military assistance.

 

And in the case of Armenia I think we have made good progress over the last

two or three years in terms of deepening, expanding and broadening that

military relationship and we look forward to continuing it. We do it in the

sense to achieve our mutual goals of strengthening Armenia's ability to

participate in international peacekeeping, to fight terrorism and other

negative phenomena and basically to pursue its own national interest in the

security area.

 

We have been looking for a series of specific developments in this area,

many of which have happened, a few others we continue to work on. But

clearly it included Armenia joining the Partnership for Peace Status of

Forces Agreement. We have signed an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing

Agreement which allows us to support Armenia in its deployments in

international peacekeeping or other areas. Armenia is participating in

international peacekeeping in Kosovo, it is committed to participating in

the coalition in Iraq, and we are working actively to make that happen, at

this point there is certainly nothing on the Armenian side that is slowing

that down. Our military assistance program is moving ahead at full speed. We

have delivered radios, we have delivered training and so forth. Armenia has

signed an Article 98 agreement, which is something that is important for the

United States, we look forward to seeing that ratified in the fall. And we

had a series of visits back and forth.

 

- The United States is very active in the processes of the settlement of the

Nagorno Artsax conflict and normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

What part of your time did you spend on these problems?

 

- Well it does not quite work in a mathematical sense. I have probably

personally spent more time on the Artsax issue. There is a fair amount of

very active work with Armenia on that issue. But when it comes to Turkey and

Turkish-Armenian relations the real issue is not so much working with

Armenia to change Armenia's point of view, it is trying to work with Turkey

to have Turkey take more steps towards improving the relationship. Simply

since Armenia has a policy of being ready to improve relations and open the

border without any preconditions, most of the preconditions then are on the

Turkish side. So, I think there is more work and more engagement with Turkey

on this issue than we raise with Armenia, which isn't to say that we don't

have conversations, we don't talk about it, we haven't shared experiences,

but simply in terms of the amount of time spent here in Yerevan there is

more on the Artsax issue than there is on Turkish-Armenian relations.

 

- Did You have any idea about the level of complexity of the Nagorno

Artsax problem before your arrival in Armenia?

 

- I had some sense of how complicated it was because I had been following it

from my work in Moscow for a number of years, but of course having

acquaintanceship at a distance is a little bit different from really having

a day-to-day sense for it. So I have a much better appreciation for how

difficult it is and I have an even better appreciation from my visits to

Baku where I really also got a sense of the gap in public perceptions, and

the gap in the positions of the two governments.

 

When I first was getting ready to come to Armenia, or was beginning to think

about coming to Armenia, we were still in the lead-up to the Key West

meetings. There was still some hope that we would be able to actually

implement that peace agreement, or that we would have a peace agreement to

implement, let me put it that way, because we never got to the agreement.

But it became pretty clear shortly after I arrived that that was not going

to happen. I think, over the last couple of years, there has not been a lot

of movement towards that agreement.

 

We are very hopeful that with this round of engagement by the co-chairs'

meetings with the presidents, engagement of the foreign ministers in regular

meetings, that we may be in the process of identifying some possible

approaches that would mean it would be possible to actually move towards an

agreement. It's a little early to tell whether that is possible, but we are

certainly working very intensively and will continue that work.

 

- Despite the consecutive efforts by the United States, which repeatedly

calls on its Turkish colleagues to open the border and establish diplomatic

relations with Armenia, it does not manage to achieve any success. Don't You

think that Washington has to take new, may be, more radical steps in order

to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations?

 

- First of all, in the last year or so, you have had a somewhat different

situation in Turkey, because you have a new government, a government that

for the first time in quite some time has a solid majority in parliament and

we had some expectations that we would be able to have the kind of movement

forward that we had hoped. This has proved not to be the case. I think the

situation in Turkey has proved to be somewhat more complex than we had

anticipated.

 

We have a very complicated agenda with Turkey, a lot of very important and

serious issues on that agenda. It has not been an easy period in the last

year or two in our relations with Turkey, but clearly improving relations

with Armenia, opening the borders is on our agenda that we are pursuing.

 

And I don't know whether I would say we are looking for more radical

measures, or that more radical measures would be possible or effective. All

I can say is that on all of the issues that we pursue with Turkey, we pursue

them in a friendly manner as befits relations between allies, that we push

our viewpoint and sometimes we make progress and sometimes we don't. But we

will continue to move ahead whether it is on issues of the region, Middle

East Peace Process, in Iraq or Cyprus, and continue to try to get a

resolution in Cyprus, or moving Turkey towards the European Union, or

improving the internal situation in Turkey, or improving Turkish-Armenian

relations.

 

Those are all very important issues and we are not in a position, we don't

have the luxury of saying, "If you don't move on one, you will keep back

things on the other." We want progress across the board and I don't think we

are really prepared to hold one thing hostage to another.

 

- Your Excellency, how predictable was the activization of Armenia-NATO

relations observed for the last 2-3 years for the United States?

 

- I think that in some sense they were, once we activated the U.S.

military-to-military relationship. We really did become much more interested

in looking across the border for ways in which we could help Armenia improve

its military situation and NATO is one of the principle elements available

to do that. The other thing is that much of NATO's attention over the last

decade has been devoted towards expanding the alliance in Central and

Eastern Europe. That is now largely completed and we have been encouraging

for the last year or two NATO to look not necessarily to expand the alliance

but certainly to deepen and broaden the relationship that NATO has with the

countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. This is a natural consequence of

the post-September 11 environment with terrorism, as well as the next stage

of how the alliance is approaching the region.

 

I worked at NATO in the mid-1990s when we began the Partnership for Peace

program which was originally designed, the intention was it would both work

on membership for those countries that wanted to become members as well as

building relations and improving the relationship with countries that

perhaps had no intention of deciding to become members, but nonetheless were

important to build these new ties in the post-Cold War era. And the first

task got a lot of attention, more than that second task, and now, I think,

more attention will be paid to the second task which has always been there,

but never quite got the resources or the attention it deserved. And I think

now you will begin to see there will be more attention paid to this. And I'm

glad that Armenia too sees benefit in increasing its ties to NATO, and sees

that NATO can offer something to the Armenian military, and so tries to move

to strengthen its ties to the outside world, to participate more in

international peacekeeping. We have eventually to engage much more

vigorously in the reform and the modernizing of the military in Armenia.

 

- Both in Armenia and outside it we can very often face the following

stereotype - "being a pro-Russian country, Armenia retards the pace of

integration of the whole South Caucasian region into the Euro-Atlantic

structures". Do you think that Armenian-Russian relations are the very

factor that prevents Armenia and the whole region from fully developing

their relations with the West?

 

- I have never been a particularly big fan of this line of reasoning. I

think that there are longstanding historic and natural reasons why Armenia

should have good relations with Russia. And in fact I think those relations,

that analysis really applies to all the countries of the Caucasus as well.

Now each of the three countries has its own different relationship based

upon more recent developments and particular interpretations of where it

sees its national interest. I think that to Armenia's credit it has not

pursued a sort of single vector direction for its foreign policy, but it

instead has proceeded to move pragmatically to develop its relations where

it needs to, while clearly making the long-term strategic choice that it

wants to be integrated into European structures.

 

And when you look at, for instance, the economic choices that Armenia makes,

joining the WTO, working and cooperating with the European Union and the

United States in the economic area, it's very clear that they had made a

strategic choice. But at the same time one of the major markets, a lot of

the commercial ties, a very large and in some ways wealthy Diaspora is in

Russia. Russia is an important commercial and economic partner for Armenia,

so it would make no sense at all for Armenia to turn its back on Russia and

only move in the direction of the West. Just as it would make no sense at

all for Armenia to turn solely towards Russia and ignore Europe.

 

So, for our part we work at the U.S.-Armenia relationship for what it's

worth for us and what it's worth for Armenia, and we don't put it on the

scales and say, "Neh, it's a little more here or a little less there." And

what other nations do is really up to them. But in terms of the U.S.-Armenia

relationship, we approach it on its own terms and we think there is great

value for us and for Armenia in pursuing across-the-board improvements, but

we do not see this as a zero-sum issue that any improvements with us are

going to be negative for anyone else in the region.>

 

AAA 7/22

 

In his interview to Novoye Vremia newspaper, Ordway referred to the TARC. He

said that one should not underestimate the Commission's activity. The

Ambassador added that the Commission had achievements and pointed to the

conclusion by the International Center for Transitional Justice. According

to Ordway, the Commission was a diplomatic attempt to normalize relations

between the two countries.

 

US AMBASSADOR NOT CARRIED OUT ANY ANTI-IRANIAN MISSION IN ARMENIA

 

YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. "Working as US Ambassador to Armenia I

have not carried out any anti-Iranian mission," US Ambassador to

Armenia John Ordway stated at his final press conference, commenting

on the commencement of the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas main.

 

He said that he has never made any strong-worded statements

concerning the gas main. He stressed that the USA's actions toward

Iran are accounted for by the sanctions stipulated by the law on Iran

approved by the US Congress, which has not yet been abolished. -T-

 

RESUMPTION OF HOSTILITIES IN NAGORNO-Artsax FATAL FOR ENTIRE

REGION: US AMBASSADOR

 

YEREVAN, JULY 2. ARMINFO. The resumption of hostilities in the

Nagorno-Artsax conflict zone will be fatal for the entire South

Caucasus, and there will no be winner in the war, which is clear to

all the conflicting parties, US Ambassador to Armenia John Ordway,

who is completing his mission in Armenia, stated at his final

press conference.

 

According to him, it is now time to pass from declarative statements

to the settlement process. The US Ambassador disagreed that the OSCE

Minsk Group has lost its significance and the conflicting parties can

settle the problem by themselves. The latest developments - the

Co-Chairmen's frequent visits to the region, meetings between

Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents and other factors - testify

that the OSCE Minsk Group is determined to and will settle the

Nagorno-Artsax conflict provided the conflicting parties display

political will. Various opinions on the settlement can exist, but the

only thing can be said for certain: all the conflicting parties are

concerned with the establishment of security and prosperity, Ordway

said. He pointed out that the longer the conflict remains unsettled

as more serious is the threat of resumption of hostilities. The US

Ambassador pointed out that in any way the current statu quo is

better that resumption of hostilities. -T-

 

U.S. AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ARMENIA JOHN

ORDWAY ASSESSES HIS THREE-YEAR ACTIVITY IN ARMENIA EFFECTIVE

 

YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Completing his diplomatic mission to

Armenia, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary John

Ordway assesses his three-year activity in Armenia effective and is

sure that in this period of time the Armenian-American relations were

dynamically developing.

 

At the same time, at his final press-conference today, Ambassador

Ordway said that one should not compare Armenia's relations with the

USA and those with other states, as Yerevan's complementary policy

can be assessed on each country separately. The American diplomat

said that the Armenian-American relations will further develop

dynamically. He expressed a special gratitude to Armenia for its

assistance to the USA in the struggle against international

terrorism.

 

He also said that in the course of his activity in Armenia as a U.S.

Ambassador, the bilateral military cooperation has also developed. In

this connection, he pointed out America's military assistance to

Armenia, the cooperation of Armenia and Kansas State in the sphere of

civil defense, participation of Armenian peace-makers in operations

in Kosovo and Armenia's successful cooperation with NATO. As a NATO

member-state, we can only welcome this, and it is not ruled out that

Armenian peace-makers will participate in the mission to Iraq in

future, John Ordway said.-M-

 

JOHN ORDWAY: FRAMEWORK OF ARMENIAN-AMERICAN MILITARY

COOPERATION IS MUCH WIDER THAN MILITARY AID

 

YEREVAN, July 22 (Noyan Tapan). In the previous 3 years

Armenia and the US achieved great success in the sphere of

military cooperation. John Ordway, the Ambassador of the US to

RA, gave such estimation to the current level of the

Armenian-American military cooperation at the July 22 press

conference. He expressed a hope that the military aid of the US

to Armenia will continue in the future, as well.

But, according to the Ambassador, bilateral relations in

military sphere have a wider framework than the military aid.

Thus, at present a program of cooperation between the state of

Cansas and Armenia is being implemented at present. "And I hope

that soon the Armenian forces will participate in the

peace-making mission in Iraq," John Ordway mentioned.

According to the US Ambassador, relations of Armenia with

NATO are also becoming more active. "As a country of NATO we

greet this activization and we also will try to improve and

develop these relations," he declared.

*10a220710-te #01 %000 >c33 e00 +v $14 &03 @20 .am 22/07/04 19:40

 

JOHN ORDWAY: "ARMENIAN PEOPLE HAS GREAT POTENTIAL FOR

BUILDING OF FREE, INDEPENDENT AND ECONOMICALLY DEVELOPING

COUNTRY"

 

YEREVAN, July 22 (Noyan Tapan). John Ordway, the Ambassador

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the US to Armenia, who is

finishing his diplomatic mission in Armenia, had the last

meeting with representatives of Armenian mass media on July 22.

In his opening speech in Armenian he mentioned that in 3

years he had an opportunity of being in all the regions of the

Republic of Armenia, saw the beauty of the country and the

cultural values, got acquainted with many interesting people.

The Ambassador said that during his numerous visits he was able

to estimate the results of the American aid on the spot and to

get acquainted with the problems of people. According to him,

these 3 years were very efficient: "Jointly with the RA

government we tried to develop economy, establish supremacy of

law and form a civil society."

Ambassador Ordway mentioned that the US highly estimates

the assistance of the RA government in the issue of struggle

against terrorism. The US, in particular, wants the principles

of democracy to strengthen, poverty to reduce, economic reforms

to go on and investment field to improve in Armenia.

According to him, security and stability in the whole

region should be strengthened. John Ordway declared that the US

will continue working with the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk

Group for the purpose of "fair and mutually admissible solution"

of the Artsakh problem.

"Having the experience of these 3 years, I may say with

confidence that the Armenian people has a great potential for

building of a free, independent, economically developed and

prospering country, being the US Ambassador to RA and having a

contribution to development of Armenian-American relations is an

honour for me," the Ambassador declared.

John Ordway expressed his gratitude to Armenian journalists

for efficient work and wished them success.

*04a220704-te #01 %000 >c33 e00 +v $14 &03 @20 .am 22/07/04 18:35

 

US AMBASSADOR CONSIDERS THAT SERIOUS PROGRESS REGISTERED IN

ARMENIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS

 

YEREVAN, July 22 (Noyan Tapan). "We have registered very

serious progress in the Armenian-American relations in the

previous 3 years. Of course, there were some faults, but on the

whole, we see positive relations and deeper cooperation between

2 countries," John Ordway, the US Ambassador to Armenia,

declared at the July 22 press conference while estimating the

current level of Armenian-American relations.

He declared that the US is interested in development of

Armenian-American relations, further cooperation in different

spheres of mutual interest. He mentioned the importance of

improvement of economic atmosphere in Armenia, strengthening of

democratic processes, as well as peace and security in the

region.

As for the construction of such a large new complex of the

Embassy on the Yerevan Lake side, Ambassador John Ordway

mentioned: "The fact that we make large investments and build a

large, safe and modern building of the Embassy shows that we

consider relations with Armenia as very stable and long-term.

This is the credit of confidence in our relations with Armenia."

As to the perspective of Armenian-American

inter-governmental relations, he declared that after Armenia

became independent both countries all the time improved the

bilateral relations. According to him, the further improvement

of relations at this level depends on developments in Armenia

and in the region. "I am sure that the interests shared by the

governments and peoples of 2 countries won't change. We share

the loyalty of the Armenian people to democratic values and

formation of a civil society. Armenia still remains loyal to

these values and I hope that this won't change and we

will continue working together in this direction," he declared.

Answering the question, how he estimates the situation of

human rights and freedom of speech in Armenia, the US Ambassador

said: "This is the sphere where less progress was registered

than we expected taking into account the resources of Armenia."

Nevertheless, in his estimation, a number of steps in the

direction of formation of a civil society and presence of

"active" press inspires hope. "I think that there is a hope in

this sphere and we have great expectations here. We will do our

best in order to assist to progress in this sphere."

*06a-ta-e #01 %000 >c33 +v $14 &03 @03 .am 22/07/04 17:55

 

U.S. AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY TO ARMENIA JOHN

ORDWAY COMMENTS ON DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS IN ARMENIA

 

YEREVAN, JULY 22. ARMINFO. Establishment of democratic values in

Armenia i.e. formation of civil public, protection of human rights

etc.. is slower than it was expected, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary

and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Ordway said at his final

press-conference in Yerevan. The Ambassador completes his diplomatic

mission to Armenia.

 

He said that this process is likely to require a change of

generation. At the same time, the USA intends to further assist

Armenia in establishment of democratic values. And taking into

account the successful formation of local self-government bodies and

the activity of native Mass Media, one can hope for a success, the

diplomat said.-M-

[Armen]

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian

10 Aug 04

 

 

ARMENIA, USA DISCUSS MILITARY COOPERATION

 

YEREVAN

 

Armenia and the USA held the third round of bilateral consultations on

cooperation in defence on 2-7 August in Kansas.

 

The consultations considered the present condition and prospects for

further development of military and military-political cooperation

between Armenia and the USA, Mediamax news agency has learnt.

 

The Armenian delegation at the consultations was headed by the deputy

minister of defence, Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan, the American delegation

by the US deputy assistant secretary of defence, James MacDougall.