The White House spokesman told reporters yesterday that U.S. President George W. Bush had a telephone conversation on Tuesday morning with Presidents Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan about international terrorism and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to U.S. Spokesman Ari Fleischer, all three presidents reaffirmed their commitments to peace and stability in the Caucasus region and to advancing efforts to reach a peaceful settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh.
"President Bush understood the importance of Congress taking final action to pass authority to waive restrictions on assistance imposed by Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act. Once that waiver is granted to the President by the Congress, which is now pending, that will allow the President to do more with Armenia as well as Azerbaijan to fight terrorism and to facilitate deeper cooperation in the region," the White House spokesman said.
Last week the US Senate amended Section 907 of the "Freedom Support Act" giving a conditional authority to President George W. Bush to lift sanctions against Azerbaijan. The Section 907 of the "Freedom Support Act" forbids the US government to assist the government of Azerbaijan until it lifts its economic blockade imposed against Armenia.
The US House of Representatives has maintained Section 907 earlier this year. The House-Senate conference committee will now work out differences in interpretation of Section 907.
Harry Tamrazian