SENATOR SAYS HE’LL VOTE AGAINST ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR NOMINEE FREDERIC J. FROMMER
Contra Costa Times, San Francisco
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.
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. While other senators have raised concerns about Hoagland’s
nomination, Coleman is the first to say publicly that he will vote
against it, according to the Armenian National Committee of America.
California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who sits on the committee,
agreed with postponing the vote but hasn’t said how she plans to vote.
"The administration has to change its policy on Armenia.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hoagland is caught in the middle of this sorry
situation, and I will say more about this entire matter when the
committee votes on this nomination," she said Wednesday in a statement.
In May, the White House announced the recall of the current ambassador
to Armenia, John Evans, two years into the normal three-year diplomatic
term. Last year, Evans told Armenian-Americans, "The Armenian genocide
was the first genocide of the 20th century."
Sixty members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protesting that Evans was being
punished for his reference to "genocide." In a separate letter,
Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts
demanded an explanation from Rice for Evans’ recall.
"It absolutely was cut short because of that," Coleman said,
referring to Evans’ use of the word genocide. "That I also found to
be troubling. Evans was a good ambassador.
"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."
Asked whether Evans was recalled for using the word genocide, State
Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez would only say, "U.S. ambassadors
serve at the pleasure of the president."
At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing in June, senators failed to
get Hoagland to use the word genocide.
"I have not received any kind of written instruction about this,"
Hoagland said at that hearing. "I simply have studied the president’s
policy. I’ve studied the background papers on the policy. And my
responsibility is to support the president." (AP)