Cord Byrd: “I would like to engage the subcommittee leadership in a colloquy regarding our policy toward Turkey and the Caucasus in…”

“I would like to engage the subcommittee leadership in a colloquy regarding our policy toward Turkey and the Caucasus in this bill. The importance of this strategic region for U.S. policy can hardly be overstated, and the bill as passed by the House has a number of very troublesome provisions. Senator McConnell, as I understand it, the House bill as it passed has several provisions that have the probability of damaging our relations with Turkey, our ally, and Azerbaijan, our friend to the east of Turkey in the Caucasus. The Turkey provision would link our aid to forced admissions by the Turkish government on historic events, admissions that are strongly repugnant to and rejected by Turkey. This is really a bilateral matter between Turkey and Armenia which should be worked out between those two states. As a result of that House provision, the ambassador from Turkey has asked us to retract our provision of economic aid. That is a sorry state of affairs. They would rather not have the aid if it is tied up in conditions that are onerous to the Turkish government and people. I do not blame the Turkish government for its reaction to this provision. I understand that the Committee has struck that House provision and I congratulate Senator McConnell and Senator Leahy for that. That is the responsible thing to do.”