The Caucasus: Frozen Conflicts and Closed Borders

Title: The Caucasus: Frozen Conflicts and Closed Borders
Location: The House Foreign Affairs, Washington DC
Description: The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the Caucasus on June 18, 2008
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2008-06-19

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the Caucasus on June 18, 2008.  Please contact your Member of Congress and ask them to point out Turkey and Azerbaijan’s positive role in the region.   The Armenian American community will ask members to emphasize “blockade” of Armenia. Please emphasize Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan and blockade of Nakhichevan.  Below are additional points for your consideration and a list of Members on their committee and their staff.  It is most effective if you are a constituent or know the office. If you would like to know who your Member of Congress is, go to www.house.gov and put in your zip code.  

Thank you

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the Caucasus on June 18, 2008.  As your constituents, we would like you to keep the following in mind and if possible, raise the following issues:

 

TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA AND THE U.S. HAVE BEEN WORKING TOGETHER TO DIVERSIFY ENERGY RESOURCES AND ACHIEVE ENERGY SECURITY IN THE CASPIAN REGION FOR ALMOST TWO DECADES

 

• At the epicenter of Eurasian energy and transport routes, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are bolstering global energy security by providing for the safe and secure flow of goods, services, and energy resources to world markets.

 

• Since the “Contract of the Century” was signed in 1994, Azerbaijan has extensively developed its energy resources to diversify western energy supplies.  The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline became fully operational in July 2006, and will provide one third of new oil to international markets.  

 

• Turkey and Israel are jointly working for the realization of the Turkey-Israel Multi-Pipeline System which will support global energy security as the North-South energy corridor becomes as important as the East-West energy corridor.

 

• New opportunities have emerged in Turkmenistan for the realization of the Turkmenistan-Trans Caspian-Turkey-Europe Gas Pipeline Project (TCP).

 

 

THE ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT

 

• Armenia occupies 20 percent of neighboring Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno Karabakh region and seven additional regions. 
• The State Department’s 2008 fact sheet on the region states: “The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country, and its leadership is not recognized internationally or by the United States.  The United States supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and holds that the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a matter of negotiation between the parties with the aim of achieving a lasting and comprehensive political resolution of the conflict. The United States remains committed to finding a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the Minsk Group process.”  The United States mediates the peace process as a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group which was established in 1992.

 

• From a total population of eight million, there are nearly one million refugees and internally displaced Azerbaijanis.

 

• According to the U.S. Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave is “blockaded by neighboring Armenia.”

 

• Four U.N. Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874, 884) adopted in 1992 and 1993 call for the unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories.

 

• Armenia has not recognized the Armenian-Turkish border.

 

 

ARMENIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH IRAN

 

• Iran is one of Armenia’s largest trading partners.  The two countries are working on a trade agreement.

 

• An Iran-Armenia gas pipeline was opened by President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Armenian President Robert Kocharian on March 19, 2007.

 

• Russia and Iran are planning to construct a refinery in Armenia with an annual capacity to refine 53 million barrels of oil and produce gasoline and diesel fuel.  Armenia will only use 1 million tons of refined oil; the vast majority will be exported.

 

• The State Department expressed concern about relations between Armenia and Iran in its 2007 Country Reports on Terrorism:

 

“Armenia’s warming relations with neighboring Iran continued, with Armenia hosting official visits by Iranian President Ahmadinejad (October) and Iranian Defense Minister Najjar (November).  In addition to fostering closer diplomatic ties, these visits served to solidify previous bilateral commitments to develop joint energy and transportation projects.  This closer cooperation has made Armenia more reluctant to criticize publicly objectionable Iranian conduct or join other UN member states in advocating for sanctions on the Iranian regime.”

 June 2008

 

Foreign Affairs Staffers for House Foreign Affairs Committee Members

 

Congressperson	Staffer	Contact Information (office)
DEMOCRATS
Berman	Doug Campbell	225-4695 [email protected]
Ackerman	David Adams	225-2601 [email protected]
Faleomavaega	Lisa Williams	225-8577 [email protected]
Payne	Stephanie Gidigbi	225-3436 [email protected]
Sherman	Don MacDonald	225-5911 [email protected]
Wexler	Jesper Pedersen	225-3001 [email protected]
Engel	Jason Steinbaum	225-2464 [email protected]
Delahunt	Brain Forni	225-3111 [email protected]
Meeks	Sophia King	225-3461 [email protected]
Crowley	Shawn Hodjati	225-3965 [email protected]
Watson	Bert Hammond	225-7084 [email protected]
Carnahan	Jeremy Haldeman	[email protected] 225-2671
Tanner	Carling Dinkler	[email protected] 225-4714
Woolsey	Jennifer Goedke	[email protected] 225-5161
Jackson Lee	Yohannes Tsehai	[email protected] 225-3816
	Nina Besser	[email protected]
Hinojosa	Andrew Jones	[email protected] 225-2531
Wu	Scott Olson (Latin America and Europe)	[email protected] 225-0855
	Elsa Tung (Asia and Middle East)	[email protected] 225-0855
Brad Miller	Ashley Orr	[email protected] 225-3032
Linda Sanchez	Jose Delgado	[email protected] 225-6676
David Scott	Gary Woodward	[email protected] 225-2939
Costa	Bob Farmer	[email protected] 225-3341
Sires	Jessica Lawrence (Asia, Pacific)	[email protected] 225-7919
	Hannah Brown (Western Hemisphere)	[email protected] 225-7919
Giffords	Liz Berry	[email protected] 225-2542
Ron Klein	Mira Kogen	[email protected] 225-3026
Adam Smith	Katy Quinn	225-8901 [email protected]
REPUBLICANS
Chris Smith	Sheri Rickert, subcommittee staff member, counsel	226-7812 [email protected]
	Peter Martin Subcommittee staff	226-7812 [email protected]
	Mark Milosch, Subcommittee staff	226-7812 [email protected]
Burton	Brian Fauls	225-2276 [email protected]
	Mark Walker	[email protected] 225-2276
Gallegly	Richard Mereu	225-5811 [email protected]
Ros-Lehtinen	Yleem Poblete	225-3931 [email protected]
	Sarah Kiko	225-3931 [email protected]
Rohrabacher	Paul Berkowitz	225-2415 [email protected]
Royce	Thomas Sheehy	226-1500 [email protected]
Chabot	Keri Sikich	225-2216 [email protected]
Manzullo	Nien Su	225-5676 [email protected]
Tancredo	Mac Zimmerman	225-7882 [email protected]
Paul	Daniel McAdams	225-2831 [email protected]
Flake	Chandler Morse	225-2635 [email protected]
Wittman	Jamie Jones Miller	225-4261 [email protected]
Pence	LeAnne Gibbs	225-3021 [email protected]
McCotter	Paul Blocher	225-8171 [email protected]
Joe Wilson	Paul Callahan	225-2452 [email protected]
Boozman	Margaret Lemmerman	225-4301 [email protected]
Barrett	Carla Campbell	225-5301 [email protected]
Mack	Francis Gibbs	225-2536 [email protected]
Fortenberry	Diana Tasnadi	225-4806 [email protected]
McCaul	Ari Stein	225-2401 [email protected]
Poe	Nicole Hunt	225-6565 [email protected]
Inglis	David Weil	225-6030 [email protected]
Fortuño	John Laufer	225-2615 [email protected]