JOHN EVANS CONTINUES TO EXERCISE HONOR AND PRIVELEGE OF U.S. AMBASSADOR

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2006 01:01 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ John Evans is our Ambassador and he continues to
exercise that honor and privilege Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman of
the U.S. Department of State said when commenting on the report
of his recall due of his speech on Armenian Genocide. As it was
reported earlier, ANCA’s letter addressed to Secretary Rice earlier
this week said in part, “the prospect that a U.S. envoy’s posting –
and possibly his career – has been cut short due to his honest and
accurate description of a genocide is profoundly offensive to American
values and U.S. standing abroad – particularly in light of President
Bush’s call for moral clarity in the conduct of our international
affairs.” Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Armenian
Issues Caucus, also expressed his extreme disappointment to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice over reports that the U.S.

Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, is being forced from
office based upon truthful and forthright statements last year about
the Armenian Genocide. To remind, speaking last year to an Armenian
American gathering at the University of California at Berkeley,
Amb. Evans said, “I will today call it the Armenian Genocide… I
informed myself in depth about it. I think we, the U.S. government,
owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank and honest way of discussing
this problem. Today, as someone who has studied it… there’s no doubt
in my mind [as to] what happened . . . I think it is unbecoming of us,
as Americans, to play word games here. I believe in calling things by
their name.” Referring to the Armenian Genocide as “the first genocide
of the 20th century,” he said: “I pledge to you, we are going to do a
better job at addressing this issue.” Amb. Evans also disclosed that
he had consulted with a legal advisor at the State Department who
had confirmed that the events of 1915 were “genocide by definition.”