ARMENIAN LOBBYING GROUP TO FIGHT ON AGAINST NEW U.S. ENVOY
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 8 2006

A leading Armenian-American lobbying group has pledged more efforts
to block the congressional confirmation of President George W. Bush’s
pick for new U.S. ambassador to Armenia, which cleared a key hurdle
on Thursday.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) said it is undaunted
by career diplomat Richard Hoagland’s crucial endorsement by the
U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. His confirmation by the
full Senate now seems a forgone conclusion.

The committee had twice delayed the vote this summer due to its
pro-Armenian members’ protests against Hoagland’s refusal to refer to
the 1915 mass killings and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman
Empire as genocide. Washington’s outgoing ambassador in Yerevan, John
Evans, is believed to have been recalled for publicly recognizing
the genocide.

"The ANCA remains firmly opposed to the Hoagland nomination, and
will continue to seek to block his confirmation until he publicly
states that he does not question the Armenian Genocide, and the State
Department explains both its firing of the current Ambassador as well
as the role of the Turkish government in this controversy," the ANCA
executive director, Aram Hamparian, said in a statement. Hamparian
thanked the five senators who voted against Hoagland and denounced
the Bush administration for its continuing refusal to use the word
"genocide" with regard to the slaughter of some 1.5 million Ottoman
Armenians.

The Armenian Assembly of America, a more moderate advocacy group, also
praised those lawmakers but stopped short of calling for Hoagland’s
rejection by the Senate. "We appreciate the remarks of the Senators to
squarely affirm the Armenian Genocide and to urge the Administration
to review and rethink its current policy," its executive director,
Bryan Ardouny, said in a statement. "The historical truth is undeniable
and we will continue to pursue universal and irrevocable affirmation
of the Armenian Genocide."

The Assembly’s praise was also addressed to those senators who called
for U.S. recognition of the genocide but voted for Bush’s nominee,
citing U.S. national interests. Among them was Senator Joseph Biden
of Delaware, who demanded last month an official explanation from
the State Department regarding Evans’s dismissal.

Another ranking Democrat, John Kerry of Massachusetts, remained adamant
in rejecting Hoagland’s candidacy and accusing the White House of
caving in to pressure from Turkey. "For us to allow an ambassador
to be recalled because he uttered the word ‘genocide’ is to kowtow,
it’s to cave in, to those who change history," Kerry told the Senate
panel during a 45-minute debate that preceded the 13-to-5 vote.

"We’re not going to allow revisionism … We honor history and we
honor the truth," he added, according to AFP.

Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, likewise said she can
not support Hoagland "until we call the first genocide of the 20th
century by its rightful name." "In Darfur we are witnessing the first
genocide of the 21st century and the Bush administration called it
that," Reuters quoted her as saying.

However, Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican,
countered that rejecting a qualified nominee "because of concerns
of U.S. policy toward that country (Armenia) would set a troubling
precedent."