NEWLY APPOINITED U.S. CHARGE D’AFFAIRES TO ARMENIA TAKES OFFICE

ARKA
Jul 10 2007

YEREVAN, 10 July. /ARKA/. The newly appointed US Charge D’Affaires
to Armenia, Rudolph Perina, assumed office on Tuesday, succeeding
Anthony Godfrey. The press service of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia
reports that Perina’s deep knowledge, his experience in Armenia and
professional ties with the Armenian officialdom will contribute to
the continuation of bilateral relations.

According to the press service, Perina will not stay long in office,
as the issue of appointing a new U.S. Ambassador to Armenia still
remains topical.

President Bush keeps on endorsing Ambassador Richard Hogland’s
candidacy of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia.

Despite Ambassador’s public denial of recognizing the Armenian
massacres in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, President Bush offered
the U.S. Congress to affirm Ricahrd Hogland’s candidacy.

In September 2006, the polling of the U.S. Congress on the issue of
affirming Richard Hogland’s candidacy was suspended, thanks to the
joint efforts of the Armenian lobby and Senator Robert Menendez.

Тhe Armenian community in the U.S.A. is against Hogland’s candidacy,
as he refrained from recognizing the Armenian genocide in 1915 in
the Ottoman Turkey.

During his diplomatic career, Rudolph Perina held various high
posts. From 1993 to 1996 he was U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade, from
1996 to 1997 was Senior Adviser to U.S. Deputy Secretary for Europe
and Canada.

>From 1998 to 2001 Perina was a co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group on the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian conflicts, and from
2004 to 2005 was Deputy Director of State Secretary in the Strategic
Planning Department.

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