U.S. SENATOR AGAIN BLOCKS ARMENIA ENVOY NOMINEE
By Emil Danielyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 11 2007
A U.S. senator on Thursday again blocked the congressional confirmation
of President George W. Bush’s nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador
to Armenia, citing the latter’s failure to publicly recognize the
Armenian genocide.
In a statement posted on his website, Robert Menendez, a New Jersey
Democrat, said he placed a second "hold" on the nomination of career
diplomat Richard Hoagland two days after it was reaffirmed by Bush.
"Given the circumstances and controversy surrounding Mr. Hoagland’s
nomination, I believe that the best way to move forward would be for
the president to nominate a new candidate for this ambassadorship,"
he said.
Menendez went on to attack the Bush administration for its refusal
to use the term "genocide" with regard to the slaughter of some 1.5
million Armenians during the dying years of the Ottoman Empire. "If
there is any sincerity behind the Bush administration’s rhetoric about
‘liberty on the march’ … then American diplomacy should consist of
nothing less than unvarnished honesty with our friends and enemies
alike. And we must call genocide by its name," he said.
The previous U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, John Evans, is believed
to have been recalled by the White House last year over his public
description of the mass killings as genocide. Hoagland’s failure to
do so during confirmation hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee last summer angered the influential Armenian community in
the United States.
One of its two main lobbying organizations, the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) has since been vigorously
campaigning against Hoagland’s appointment. The ANCA criticized the
U.S. administration on Wednesday for re-nominating the Hoagland,
again branding him a "genocide denier."
Unlike the ANCA, the more moderate Armenian Assembly of Armenia has
dropped its opposition to the nomination. Its leaders say that Hoagland
never explicitly denied the genocide and that the prolonged absence
of a U.S. ambassador in Yerevan is damaging Armenia’s interests.
From: Baghdasarian