Armenian daily says US envoy deprived of award in fear of Turkish reaction

Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
9 Jun 05

By Anna Akopyan

Very strange things have recently happened to US Ambassador to Armenia
John Evans. There are every reason to say that the diplomatic mission
in Armenia will have a special place in John Evans’s diplomatic
career. We said several months ago that the US Department of State was
discussing recalling Evans from Armenia. The reason was his close
relationship with the Armenian authorities, in particular with Defence
Minister Serzh Sarkisyan.

Last week another report came from the US Department of State – Evans
had been granted the Constructive Dissent Award. While analysts were
trying to clarify the background, another sensational report was
received from the Department of State – the award has been withdrawn
from Evans.

The matter is that a columnist of the California Courier, Harut
Sassounian, learnt about Evans’s award from our newspapers and phoned
Washington to get an official confirmation from the American Foreign
Service Association [AFSA]. Mr Sassounian has said that AFSA confirmed
the report as well as the fact that Evans was awarded for his
statements about the Armenian genocide.

“However, when my article was ready for publication, I received an
unexpected call from AFSA which said that the award commission has
decided to ‘take the award back’ from Ambassador John Evans. When I
asked why, the reply was: no comment,” the California Courier
columnist said. This is a real sensation. This is the first case in
the history of AFSA which was set up in 1968.

Irrespective of whether this is the first case or not, this is a
really shameful event; it is an honour for an American diplomat to be
granted such an award and it is a disgrace to find oneself in a
situation which Ambassador John Evans has found himself.

Anyway, one thing is clear – the US Department of State slapped John
Evans in his face with the assistance of AFSA. What is the reason for
this kind of attitude towards poor Evans? We may say that the decision
to withdraw the award is in the first place connected with USA-Turkey
relations since rewarding Evans for describing the 1915 events as
genocide would cause Turkey’s displeasure and this made AFSA to
withdraw the award.

Sassounian suggested that the Bush administration had forced AFSA to
take this unusual step taking into account its relations with
Turkey. He also called on everybody to protest against the decision
and ask US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to restore the award.

We should say that the names of the nominees to the award were already
known on 15 March, and if the Bush administration believed that
granting the award [to Evans] would worsen Turkish-American relations,
this problem would have been settled before the decision of the award
commission.

The decision to withdraw the award was prompted by new circumstances
which might not be the Turkish factor.

Anyway, this is an action against John Evans and a great shock in his
life. Information received from Washington in connection with John
Evans shows that there are speculations and processes going on around
him, and nobody knows what they will end with.