Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Aug 6 2007
Bush bows to pressure on Armenia envoy
After a year-long confrontation, the White House bowed to pressure
from the Armenian lobby, withdrawing its nomination of a career
diplomat as ambassador in Yerevan, a development cheered by Armenian
groups in the United States.
The White House’s nomination of Richard Hoagland was blocked in the
last Congress and the Bush administration resubmitted his name in
January when the new Congress convened. But a Democrat senator,
Robert Menendez, placed a hold on the nomination for the second time
in January because of Hoagland’s refusal to call the World War I-era
killings of Armenians "genocide." A hold is a parliamentary privilege
accorded to senators that prevents a nomination from going forward to
a confirmation hearing. Hoagland’s predecessor, John Evans, had his
tour of duty in Armenia cut short because, in a social setting, he
referred to the killings as genocide.
Turkey categorically rejects "genocide" charges and says Turks and
Armenians were killed in internal strife when Armenians revolted
against the Ottoman rule in eastern Anatolia in hope of carving out
an independent state in collaboration with the invading Russian army.
Ankara has warned the US that their ties would receive a serious blow
if the two resolutions pending at Senate and the House of
Representatives are passed.
A California congressman, Republican Adam Schiff, supported the Bush
administration’s decision to withdraw Hoagland’s name. "During his
confirmation hearings, Mr. Hoagland continued to deny that the
massacre of a million-and-a-half Armenians between 1915 and 1923 was
a genocide, thereby compounding the injury done to Armenian people
and, especially, the few remaining survivors of the first genocide of
the 20th Century" said Schiff. "I hope the president will soon
nominate a new ambassador who will be more forthcoming in discussing
the Armenian genocide."
In urging the administration to submit another candidate, Menendez
said that "the State Department and the Bush administration are just
flat-out wrong in their refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide.
It is well past time to drop the euphemisms, the wink-wink, nod-nod
brand of diplomacy that overlooks heinous atrocities around the
world."
He said Friday the Bush administration did a disservice to the
Armenian people and Armenian-Americans when it removed Evans "simply
because he recognized the Armenian genocide." He added: "I hope that
our next nominee will bring a different understanding to this issue."
Armenian groups in the US welcomed the withdrawal of Hoagland’s
nomination. The Armenian National Committee of America’s (ANCA)
Executive Director Aram Hamparian said: "We are gratified to see that
the administration has finally come to recognize what the ANCA and
the Armenian American community have understood for more than a year
— that Dick Hoagland — through his own words and actions —
disqualified himself as an effective representative of either
American values or US interests as US ambassador to Armenia."
06.08.2007
Today’s Zaman with AP Ýstanbul