Have you ever heard the phrase “powerful Armenian Diaspora?”

I have heard that phrase many times, of course from Turks and Azerbaijanis. These people blame on the “powerful Armenian lobby/diaspora” for the liberation of Artsakh, for the official recognition of the Armenian genocide in many countries and for the last European Union resolution accusing Azerbaijan in violating UNESCO convention for destroying the last remaining monuments of Old Jugha cemetery! Whenever there is something going on in the world, it is always the “Armenian lobby.”

If you ask this blogger about the Armenian lobby, I will say there is none. This comes from a person who knows many members of the Armenian “lobby,” especially the one in the United States. This comes from a person who has many friends among the Armenian “lobbyists” and from a person who has “lobbied” the Congress for Armenian issues.

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Map: from Hewsen's "Armenia: A Historical Atlas"

If the Armenian “lobby” in the United States was powerful, once upon a time noted Prof. Armen Aivazian, the US administration would have recognized the independence of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and would have dared to use the phrase “Armenian genocide.” An ANCA leader from the United States once upon a time told me over the phone about the “absurdity” of the “Armenian caucus” of the US congress. The caucus includes over 150 congressmen, but most “pro-Armenian” bills are struggling to get several co-sponsors. What does this mean? This means that the Armenian caucus is a BS, nothing more. Oh, something else. According to the same source, the most “pro-Armenian congressman George Radanovich (R-CA)” had sent staff members to other congressmen’s offices asking to vote against Rep. Adam Schiff’s H.Con.Res.195 resolution about the Armenian genocide…

If you do not agree with the above evidence that there is no Armenian lobby in the United States, you might have a point. But, please explain me why the US administration proposes $3.5 Million Foreign Military Financing to Armenia and $4.5 Foreign Military Financing to Azerbaijan. Is it because Armenia has nothing to offer to the United States? Perhaps. But that “nothing” also includes the powerful Armenian lobby…

The proposed 2007 military budget is as follows:

Foreign Military Financing (FMF)
$3.5 Million (Armenia) $4.5 Million (Azerbaijan)

International Military Education and Training (IMET)
$790,000 (Armenia) $885,000 (Azerbaijan)

The budget also includes $50 million in economic aid to Armenia, which is $25 million less from the total amount Congress allocated to Armenia in FY 2006.

-from AAA's "ASSEMBLY THIS WEEK" (6 Feb 2006) newsletter