AMBASSADOR EVANS USES TERM `GENOCIDE’ AND SAYS `KARABAKH CAN’T BE GIVEN BACK TO AZERBAIJAN’
Azg/arm
2 March 05
In Armenia Evans Expresses `His Personal Capacity’
On February 19, John Evans, US ambassador to Armenia, used the term
“genocide” touching upon the massacre of the Armenians carried out in
the early 20th century in the Ottoman Empire, in the course of the
meeting with Armenian-American community members at Berkley
University, CA. He also added that “Everybody realizes that Karabakh
can’t be given back to Azerbaijan.”
On February 28, US Embassy to Armenia issued the comments of John
Evans on the abovementioned statement. “Although I told my audience
that the United States policy on the Armenian tragedy has not changed,
I used the term “genocide” speaking in what I characterized as my
personal capacity. This was inappropriate,” he said.
It’s worth reminding that since 1981 ambassador Evans was the
firstAmerican official that publicly characterized Turkish atrocities
as “genocide.” Before that, in 1981, Ronald Reagan, US ex-president,
used the term “genocide.”
“My government acknowledges the tragedy that befell the Armenian
community in Anatolia during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. We
have been actively encouraging scholarly, civil society and diplomatic
discussion of the forced killing and exile of Armenians in 1915. We
have also encouraged economic and political dialogues between the
governments of Armenia and Turkey in order to help all parties come to
terms with these horrific events,” Evans said.
It was also emphasized in the statement that “The President’s annual
statement on Armenian Remembrance Day articulates US policy on this
matter.” It’s worth mentioning that each year on April 24, on behalf
of US President, theWhite House spreads a statement that characterizes
the murder of 1 and half a million of Armenians as “horrible
massacres” and with terms like that, but the term “genocide” is never
used.
Ambassador Evans said, in particular, that he had also consulted with
a State Department lawyer who confirmed that the events of 1915 were
genocide by definition, during the meeting with the Armenian-American
community members, on February 19. In the course of the same meeting,
the Ambassador confirmed that the Turkish-American relations got worse
during the recent years.
As for Nagorno Karabakh, Ambassador Evans said in the statement: “The
US government supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and
holds that the future status of Nagorno Karabakh is a matter of
negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In the end of the
statement Evans said: “I deeply regret any misunderstanding caused by
my comments.”
Regnum agency informed that Hafiz Pashaev, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to
the US, discussed the statement made by Evans during the meeting with
the Armenian-American community with the US officials, particularly,
with Laura, Deputy US Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs. They assured the Azeri ambassador at the US State
Department that the US supports the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan and doesn’t acknowledge NagornoKarabakh and its government.
The US is the only state together with Armenia that allocates
humanitarian assistance from its state budget for Nagorno Karabakh. In
2005 this humanitarian assistance will amount to $3 billion.
Steve Pick, official representative of US State Department, mentioned:
“The statements made by John Evans should be considered as personal
viewpoint expressed during a private meeting. They do not reflect the
official position of the US”
In fact, Ambassador Evans and the US State Department do not deny the
statements the American ambassador made in California during the
meeting with the Armenian-American community.
By Tatoul Hakobian