POTENTIAL ENVOY TO ARMENIA SKIRTS WORD ‘GENOCIDE’
by Michael Doyle Bee Washington Bureau
Fresno Bee (California)
June 29, 2006 Thursday
Final Edition
America’s next ambassador to Armenia is a verbal gymnast. He has to
be to keep his job.
On Wednesday, career Foreign Service officer Richard E. Hoagland
treaded prudently through his confirmation hearing.
He picked his way around the word "genocide" in describing the
mass slaughter of Armenians between 1915 and 1923. The events were
"horrific" and "well-documented" and "historic," Hoagland told the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but the genocide word did not
cross his lips.
"It’s a tragedy; everybody agrees with that," Hoagland said, but
"instead of getting stuck in the past and vocabulary, I would like
to see what we can do to bring different sides together."
While the highly decorated Hoagland appears a shoo-in for the Armenia
post, his reticence did not sit well with the three senators who
showed up for his confirmation hearing.
"It’s almost absurd to sit here, and you can’t utter the word
‘genocide,’ " said Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota. "We
have ambassadors who can’t use a word, just a word."
The committee’s other 16 members, including California Democratic
Sen. Barbara Boxer, did not attend the hearing that lasted about an
hour. But for a number of San Joaquin Valley residents, the diplomatic
questions raised during Hoagland’s hearing have special meaning. In
regions like the San Joaquin Valley, Southern California, New Jersey
and Michigan, well-established Armenian-American populations maintain
both a tangible and symbolic stake in U.S.-Armenia relations.
"The local community follows with great interest events in Armenia
and also U.S. government policy," noted Barlow Der Mugrdechian,
lecturer in Armenian studies at California State University, Fresno.
In particular, Der Mugrdechian said, activists have tracked the fate
of Hoagland’s predecessor, Ambassador John Evans. The Yale-educated
Evans ran afoul of his State Department superiors when he acknowledged
the accuracy of the phrase "Armenian genocide."
"I informed myself in depth about it," Evans told an
Armenian-American audience in Berkeley in February 2005. "I think we,
the U.S. government, owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank and
honest way of discussing this problem. I think it is unbecoming of us,
as Americans, to play word games here. I believe in calling things
by their name."
That was contrary to the Bush administration’s policy of avoiding
the term, out of deference to Turkey’s sensibilities. Within a week,
the State Department issued a statement from Evans in which he called
his remarks "inappropriate" and said he "deeply" regretted them.
State Department officials have declined to characterize Evans as
having been fired, but his Armenian tenure was clearly cut short. He
became ambassador in September 2004, and Hoagland was announced as
his replacement last month. By contrast, his predecessors served
three-year terms.
"Allowing John Evans to continue as ambassador to Armenia sends a
strong message on the necessity of Turkish recognition, and will be
an important step in establishing the U.S. position on the Armenian
Genocide," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, and three other House
members wrote the State Department recently.
Radanovich noted that "evidence points" to the conclusion that
Evans was removed from his diplomatic posting prematurely because
of the controversy. Although several senators said they regretted
the necessity of replacing Evans now, Hoagland was not pressed to
explain why his predecessor left his post.
"I know the policy," Hoagland said, "and my responsibility is to
support the president." If he had any concerns, Hoagland added,
he would raise them "internally" and "through proper channels."
Hoagland previously served as U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan. He has
considerable experience with some precarious parts of the world,
including service as the lead Afghanistan analyst with the State
Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. While in Pakistan
in the late 1980s, he worked with the Afghan resistance.