SEN. NORM COLEMAN, R-MINN., SAYS HE WILL VOTE AGAINST ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR NOMINEE
FOX News
Aug 2 2006
WASHINGTON – A Republican senator is planning to vote against President
Bush’s nominee for ambassador to Armenia because the nominee has
refused to refer to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide.
"I continue to be troubled by our policy that refuses to recognize
what was a historical reality," Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman said in
a telephone interview Wednesday.
The Bush administration does not question that Turkish troops killed
or drove from their homes 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915. But
it has omitted the word "genocide" to describe it.
~U CountryWatch: Armenia
Turkey strongly objects to the use of the term, and U.S. policymakers
are wary of antagonizing an important strategic NATO ally.
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Coleman
serves, postponed a vote on Richard E. Hoagland’s nomination until
next month.
"As someone of the Jewish faith, I bring a heightened sensitivity
to the reality of genocide and mass murder, and the importance of
recognizing it for what it is," Coleman said.
"I was brought up believing you never forget the Holocaust, never
forget what happened. And I could not imagine how our ambassador
to Israel could have any effectiveness if he couldn’t recognize the
Holocaust." (AP)