U.S. SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE APPROVES AMBASSADOR NOMINEE TO ARMENIA MARIE YOVANOVITCH
PanARMENIAN.Net
30.07.2008 12:39 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the midst of mounting Senate scrutiny and the
prospect of a "hold" on Marie Yovanovitch’s nomination to serve as
the next U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, the State Department, cleared
the way for her approval by retreating from statements calling into
question the historical record of the Ottoman Empire’s destruction of
its Armenian population, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
Communications Director Elizabeth Chouldjian told PanARMENIAN.Net.
The Department of State letter – sent in response to sustained pressure
from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE), and
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) – was issued
only hours before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was set to
vote on her nomination. The Committee confirmed the nomination by
voice vote, with Senator Boxer going on record against the nomination,
citing the Administration’s reluctance to properly characterize the
Armenian Genocide. The full Senate will likely consider her nomination
prior to their August recess.
"Today’s State Department letter, although clearly falling short of
America’s moral responsibility and national interest in recognizing and
condemning the Armenian Genocide, did mark a step in the direction of
distancing U.S. policy from the dictates of the Turkish government,"
said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
"While we, of course, remain troubled by the President’s refusal
to properly characterize the Armenian Genocide – as reflected in
Ambassador Yovanovitch’s responses – we were gratified to see that,
as a result of pressure from Senators Biden, Boxer, and Menendez,
the Department of State has retreated from its most offensive and
factually unsupportable assertions calling into question the historical
fact of Ottoman Turkey’s destruction of its Armenian population."
"The U.S. government – and certainly I – acknowledges and mourns
the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations that
devastated over one and a half million Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman Empire. The United States recognizes these events as one of the
greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the "Medz Yeghern" or Great
Calamity, as many Armenians refer to it. That is why every April the
President honors the victims and expresses American solidarity with
the Armenian people on Remembrance Day.
The Administration understands that many Americans and many Armenians
believe that the events of the past that I have referred to should
be called "genocide." It has been President Bush’s policy, as well
as that of previous presidents of both parties, not to use that
term. The President’s focus is on encouraging Turkish citizens to
reconcile with their past and with the Armenians. He seeks to support
the painstaking progress achieved to date. President Bush believes
that the best way to honor the victims is to remember the past, so it
is never repeated, and to look to the future to promote understanding
and reconciliation between the peoples and governments of Armenia and
Turkey. A key part of that effort is to end Armenia’s isolation in the
region by encouraging normalization of relations between Armenia and
Turkey and the opening of their land border. The Armenian government
has requested that we facilitate this process. It will not be easy
nor will it likely be quick, but there are some hopeful signs,"
Ambassador-Designate Yovanovitch said in her testimony before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 19.
President Bush’s previous nominee as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia,
Richard Hoagland, was subject to two legislative holds by Sen. Menendez
and was ultimately withdrawn by the Administration, following the
nominee’s statements denying the Armenian Genocide.