Honest language
Fresno Bee
July 11, 2006

"We have ambassadors who can’t use a word, just a word," said
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota at the confirmation hearing
of Richard Hoagland, who is to replace the dismissed ambassador to
Armenia, John Evans.

On June 10, 2005, Yale-educated Ambassador Evans was selected to
receive a prestigious award for " constructive dissent" for calling
the 1915 massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks a "genocide."

Disgracefully, under the pressures of the Turkish government, not
only the award was withdrawn, but Mr. Evans’ tenure as ambassador to
Armenia was cut short.

It is unbelievable that highly educated scholars and historians
serving in the U.S. government are forbidden to use the word "genocide"
because of our administration’s Turkish-dictated agenda.

Where is the pillar of democracy — free speech?

I hope, I yearn for an intelligent leadership in our United States
that will have the moral fabric to be honest and be a true defender
of justice.

Nazik Kotcholosian Messerlian

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