US ambassador to Armenia deprived of high award

AzerNews
16 June 05

An influential US organization has deprived US ambassador to Armenia
John Evans of a prestigious award for in an unprecedented move in its
history. State Department, withdrew the Christian Herter premium for
“For constructive disagreements” conferred to the ambassador after
he used the ‘genocide of Armenians’ expression.

American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), which consists of the
present and former officials of the US Early last week the selection
committee decided to cancel the ambassador’s award and not to confer
it to anyone in this category. The decision came shortly before a
high-level visit by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan
to Washington.

“This is the first time in the history of presenting the award that
the winner was announced but his candidacy was later withdrawn”,
the Association president John Limbert said.

The award is annually conferred to diplomats to encourage creative
thinking, intellectual outspokenness and institutional building
among US State Department officials, influential US Washington Post
newspaper reported. The presentation ceremony is attended by the State
Secretary. For instance, an average-level diplomat received the award
last year for explicitly expressing his views on the US policy on Iraq.

Speaking to the Armenian public in California, Ambassador Evans
described the killings of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
in 1915 as ‘genocide’, saying that the issue should be ‘openly and
fairly discussed’. Armenians, in turn, said Evans is the second
American official to use the ‘genocide’ term since the tenure of
former US President Ronald Reagan.

The statement drew fire from Turkey, which prompted the ambassador
to say that he used the term according to his personal beliefs at an
informal meeting. Evans was also compelled to reword the ‘genocide
of Armenians’ expression into the ‘tragedy of Armenians’.