US SENATORS CALL PRESIDENT TO PROPOSE NEW CANDIDATURE FOR POST OF AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

Regnum Agency, Russia
Dec 13 2006

Senators Robert Menendez and Harry Reid called upon President George
Bush to propose a new candidature for the post of US ambassador to
Armenia instead of Richard Hoagland blocked by the Senate.

As REGNUM was told at the Armenian National Committee of America,
in a letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the senators
recommend introducing another candidature to speed up appointment of
Armenian ambassador. "The Armenian community in the US welcomes the
principal position taken by senators Menendez and Reid on protection
of obligations on recognition, prevention and condemnation of the
Genocide. The senators comprehend a very simple truth – denial of
the Armenian Genocide cannot be effective from the point of view of
promoting interests of the United States in Armenia, the country,
which was subjected to violent deportation and genocide by Turkey,"
ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian said.

Armenian public was extremely negative on Richard Hoagland’s
candidature after the diplomat presumed to make statements denying
the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. But despite
protests of the Armenian public, particularly, some NGOs in Armenia,
Richard Hoagland’s candidacy proposed by President George Bush was
considered and approved. New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez spoke on the
issue saying that many, including the US president avoid assessing the
evil done in the beginning of the last century in Turkey as genocide,
and appointment of Hoagland can become a setback, which is not either
in interests of Armenia or interests of the Diaspora.

As Washington office of Hay Dat, in January, when office of the
110th US Congress starts, the president can either introduce a
new candidature or insist upon Hoagland’s candidature or using the
interruption in functioning of the parliament appoint Richard Hoagland
without being appointed by the Senate. Otherwise, the post of the US
ambassador to Armenia will be vacant.