U.S. SENATOR REAFFIRMS ‘HOLD’ ON ARMENIA ENVOY PICK
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
April 25 2007

A U.S. senator has pledged to continue to block the congressional
confirmation of President George W. Bush’s nominee to be the next
U.S. ambassador to Armenia over his failure to describe as genocide
the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Bush, meanwhile, again refused to use the term "genocide" with regard
to what he called "one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century"
in an annual message to the Armenian community in the United States.

Bush has twice nominated career diplomat Richard Hoagland to
replace John Evans, the previous U.S. ambassador in Yerevan. Evans
is believed to have been recalled by the White House last year
for publicly referring the 1915 slaughter of some 1.5 million
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as the first genocide of the 20th
century. The statements made two years ago contradicted successive
U.S. administrations’ policy on the highly sensitive issue which takes
into account Turkey’s long-standing strong denial of the genocide.

Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, blocked Hoagland’s
mandatory endorsement by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last
September and reaffirmed the so-called "hold" in January. Menendez
remained adamant in opposing the ambassadorial appointment on
Tuesday as he spoke at a ceremony on Capitol Hill that marked the
92nd anniversary of the genocide.

"I wish the Ambassador [Evans] was back in Armenia, but if we
cannot get him there, I refuse to release my hold on Ambassador
Hoagland because of his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee," he said, according to the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).

Evans also attended the event along with about two dozen lawmakers.

"If we dare not call the 1915 events genocide, we make it more likely
that current genocides, such as that in Darfur, will continue and
future genocides will occur," he was reported to say.

The ANCA is strongly opposed to Hoagland’s appointment, having
branded him a "genocide denier." But the more moderate Armenian
Assembly of America has effectively urged the Senate to confirm Bush’s
nominee. Assembly 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.

Both lobbying groups criticized Bush on Tuesday for his continuing
refusal to characterize the Armenian massacres as genocide. In a
statement, Aram Hamparian, the ANCA executive director, said the
president "missed yet another opportunity to speak with moral clarity
about the Armenian Genocide and to bring America back to the right
side of this key human rights issue."

"I join my fellow Americans and Armenian people around the world in
commemorating this tragedy and honoring the memory of the innocent
lives that were taken," Bush said in his April 24 statement. "The
world must never forget this painful chapter of its history."

Bush said a "sincere and open examination of the historic events of
the late-Ottoman period" should be an "essential part" of efforts to
improve Turkish-Armenian relations. He went on to praise Washington’s
"strong and vibrant ties" with Armenia. "Our Nation is grateful for
Armenia’s contributions to the war on terror, particularly for its
efforts to help build a peaceful and democratic Iraq," he said.

The ANCA the Assembly have been lobbying Congress to pass a
resolution affirming the genocide and urging the U.S. president to
do the same. The draft resolution was introduced to the House of
Representatives in January and has since been co-sponsored by more
than 190 members of the chamber. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top
House Democrats have supported such bills in the past.