US AMBASSADOR NOMINEE TO ARMENIA REFUSES TO DECLARE "GENOCIDE"

Hurriye
June 20 2008
Turkey

A United States diplomat nominated to be ambassador to Armenia came
under intense questioning Thursday at her confirmation hearing over the
U.S. policy not to label the 1915 incidents in Turkey as "genocide".

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who blocked the Bush
administration’s previous nominee over the issue and also worked with
Armenian American activists, questioned Marie Yovanovitch closely on
her views and pressed her to identify the 1915 incidents as "genocide"
but the ambassadorial nominee refused and identified it as "ethnic
cleansing."

Yovanovitch, a Foreign Service officer for 22 years and the current
ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
that even though the Armenians’ suffering was "one of the greatest
tragedies of the 20th century," referring to it as "genocide" was
"a policy decision" and she would not comment on whether she believed
a so-called genocide had occurred.

Menendez questioned Yovanovitch in prosecutorial style during a hearing
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the 1915 incidents. It
remains uncertain whether the Senate will block the confirmation of
Yovanovitch to a post that has been unfilled for two years.

Armenia, with the backing of the Diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. The
Armenian Diaspora has lately increased its organized activities
throughout the world for the acknowledgment of their unfounded
allegations in regard to the incidents of 1915 as "genocide" by
national and local parliaments.

Turkey rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with
at least as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when the
Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

Turkey also says parliaments and other political institutions are not
the appropriate bodies to debate and pass judgment on disputed periods
of history. Past events and controversial periods of history should
be left to historians for their dispassionate study and evaluation.

Efforts by Turkey to carry out a deeper investigation have yet to have
a positive outcome. In 2005, Turkey officially proposed to the Armenian
government the establishment of a joint historical commission composed
of historians and other experts from both sides to study together
the events of 1915 and to open the archives of Turkey and Armenia,
as well as the archives of all relevant third-party countries and
share their findings publicly. Unfortunately, Armenia has not yet
responded positively to this initiative and Turkey’s proposal remains
on the table.

In August, the White House withdrew its nomination of career diplomat
Richard Hoagland after Menendez held up his confirmation through a
Senate procedure.

Hoagland’s predecessor, John Evans, reportedly had his tour of duty in
Armenia cut short by the administration because, in a social setting,
he referred to the incidents as "genocide."

Armenian-American groups sought to prevent Hoagland’s nomination
unless he made a clear statement affirming the so called genocide.

RED LINES

Armenians should recognize the border lines between Turkey and
Armenia defined in the Kars Treaty which is still in force, Omer
Lutem, retired ambassador and chief of the Armenian studies office
of the Eurasian Strategic Research Center told an Azerian News Agency.

The U.S. Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried’s call on Armenia to
recognize Turkey’s borders was a very important step, he told the
Azerbaijan’s APA.

"Armenia pays no heed to the Turkey’s demand for a long time. Now
U.S. high-ranking officials raise this issue. I believe Armenia will
be forced to listen to it," Lutem said.

Lutem said: "The U.S. makes efforts to solve the Armenian-Turkish issue
for a long time and to achieve long-term peace in the Caucasus. It
is not a new policy."

He added that Fried’s address showed that Americans would take more
interest in this issue in future, and the West will increase pressure
on Armenia in the near future.

The former ambassador also reiterated Turkey’s three main problems
with Armenia; the recognition of Turkey’s territorial integrity,
giving up the "genocide" claims and solution of the Karabakh problem,
and added Turkey would never change its demands.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic links after Ankara
severed ties in protest against Armenian control and violence in
the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia invaded in a war with
Azerbaijan in the early 1990s. The border between Turkey and Armenia
has been closed.