Congressional Record: January 12, 2007 (House)
OPPOSITION TO THE RENOMINATION OF ROBERT HOGLAND
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my concern this afternoon
and my opposition, indeed, to the renomination of Robert Hogland by the
Bush administration as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. And I also want to
take this opportunity to thank my colleague from New Jersey, Senator
Menendez, for his continued opposition to the nomination.
This makes no sense, Mr. Speaker. The Senate Foreign Relations
Committee reviewed the nomination of Mr. Hogland, had hearings, asked
extensive written questions as followup in the last session of Congress, and
it was clear that Mr. Hogland’s nomination could not pass the Senate. In
fact, could not even pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It
was essentially sent back to the administration at the end of the lame
duck session. And I am, frankly, surprised that the President has
renominated Mr. Hogland under the circumstances.
The problem continues to be, on the one hand, that the administration
has not offered any meaningful explanation of the reasons for firing
the last U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Evans. We all know the reason
why Mr. Evans was terminated. It is because he articulated the fact
that the Armenia genocide occurred. Historically. The U.S. policy has
been to, basically, announce and accept the fact that the tragic events
of the Armenian genocide occurred. But when anyone within the
administration actually calls it genocide, immediately they are seen as
a bad actor, and consequences follow from that.
And Ambassador Evans came to the United States. He was out in
California. He was involved one afternoon or evening in a discussion
about the tragic events that occurred between 1915 and afterwards, and
he used the term “genocide.” It may sound like no big deal to anybody
else, a historical fact that almost every government in the world
recognizes, that the U.S. has historically acknowledged. But the very
fact that he used that term incurred tremendous opposition from the
Turkish Government. And from that day on, his days were numbered as the
ambassador to Armenia, and eventually he was terminated and Mr. Hogland
was nominated in his place.
Now, last session, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considered
Mr. Hogland’s nomination. Mr. Hogland failed to adequately respond to
the questions asked by the Senators and, I would add, this is on a
bipartisan basis. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue. This is on
a bipartisan basis. The members of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee asked him a number of questions and Mr. Hogland would not
clarify the U.S. policies denial of the Armenian genocide. In many
instances he did not respond to specific Senators’ questions, and he
diverted his answers by responding with what seemed like prepared
talking points and went to extreme lengths to avoid using the term
“genocide.”
Additionally, in response to a written inquiry from Senator John
Kerry concerning Turkey’s criminal prosecution of journalists for
writing about the Armenian genocide, Mr. Hogland referred to these
writings as allegations.
Now, let me say, the U.S. has historically taken a leadership role in
preventing genocide and human rights. But the Bush administration
continues to play word games by not calling evil by its proper name in
this case. Instead, they refer to the mass killings of 1.5 million
Armenians as tragic events. That term, Mr. Speaker, should not be
substituted for genocide. The two words are simply not synonymous.
There are historical documents that show that the genocide cannot be
refuted. But somehow the Bush administration continues to ignore the
truth in fear of offending the Turkish Government.
Now, again, I don’t think that our Nation’s response to genocide
should be denigrated to a level acceptable to the Turkish Government.
And it is about time that this administration started dictating a
policy for Americans, not for a foreign government like Turkey. This
lack of honesty, in my opinion, by the Bush administration is simply
not acceptable. The American people and this Congress deserve a full
and truthful account of the role of the Turkish Government in denying
the Armenian genocide.
Now, let me just say one more thing before I conclude this afternoon,
Mr. Speaker. There is no way, in my opinion, that Mr. Hogland is going
to be confirmed because of his policy, because of the fact that he
continues to articulate a policy of denial. And I fear, myself, that it
would make no sense to send an ambassador from this country to Armenia
who cannot articulate the genocide. So I simply ask that this
nomination be opposed again in the Senate, and the Bush administration
realize that it can’t submit it, and that they simply withdraw the
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
