GENOCIDE COMMENT COULD COST AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA HIS JOB

By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Newspapers
28-MAR-06

Scripps Howard News Service, DC
March 29 2006

WASHINGTON — Ambassador John Evans is unfailingly diplomatic about
his fate as the plain-speaking U.S. envoy to Armenia.

Others, including California lawmakers and Armenian-American activists,
are more blunt.

Unhappy lawmakers and activists contend Evans is being forced from his
post because he conceded last year that the term “Armenian genocide”
appropriately described the slaughter of Armenians between 1915 and
1923. His potential career problem is that the State Department and
the government of Turkey do not accept the term.

On Tuesday, sounding as if he were reciting carefully prepared talking
points, Evans spoke delicately about his current status.

“I am still the ambassador,” Evans said in a brief interview during
a Washington visit. “I have not submitted my retirement papers.”

At the same time, the career foreign service officer underscored the
temporary nature of any diplomatic posting. In June, he will have
served in Armenia for two years _ and he also will have reached the
35-year mark in the State Department.

“No ambassador stays forever,” Evans said, twice.

A Yale graduate who speaks four foreign languages, and is
currently studying Eastern Armenian, Evans is now the subject of
considerable speculation by politically active Armenian Americans
and their congressional champions. Ever since rumors began running
rampant several weeks ago that Evans was to be recalled or otherwise
disciplined, interest groups and lawmakers with large Armenian-American
constituencies have been weighing in.

Most recently, Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., has called the State
Department to request a meeting. It has not yet been scheduled.

Other lawmakers, too, have been increasing the pressure. At least
three members of Congress, including California Democratic Reps. Adam
Schiff and Grace Napolitano, have leveled written blasts at the
State Department.

“I do not believe it is possible for any ambassador to Armenia to
function with any credibility if he does not recognize the genocide,”
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., wrote Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
on March 10. “It is simply wrong for the State Department to punish
Ambassador Evans for statements he made that are factually correct.”

Schiff, a member of the House International Relations Committee,
followed up with written questions presented to Rice. Schiff, who
in the past has co-sponsored Armenian genocide resolutions with
Radanovich, also met privately with State Department officials. So
far, though, the State Department has not responded save for a routine
official statement.

“U.S. ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president,” the State
Department declared. “Ambassador Evans and his capable team have the
full confidence of the administration.”

The State Department, under both Democratic and Republican presidents,
has consistently opposed congressional measures that commemorate or
even use the term “Armenian genocide.” The State Department contends
historians disagree over whether the legal term “genocide” applies;
more fundamentally, officials worry about antagonizing Turkey,
a strategically located NATO ally.

Evans, who helped coordinate the U.S. response to the devastating
1988 Armenian earthquake, later began studying Ottoman history before
going on to other diplomatic assignments.

“I informed myself in depth about it,” Evans told an Armenian-American
audience in Berkeley, Calif., according to an account provided by
Pallone’s office. “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.”

Armenian officials agree. About Evans, though, they, too, are
circumspect.

“The U.S. ambassador is the U.S. ambassador,” Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian said in response to a question Tuesday.

“Until he leaves the country, we will treat him as such.”

(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service.)

ction=detail&pk=ARMENIA-03-28-06