MARIE YOVANOVITCH CONFIRMATION CONSIDERATION EXPECTED AFTER JULY 4
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.06.2008 12:21 GMT+04:00
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) secured a one-month delay in the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee’s consideration of the confirmation of
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Marie Yovanovitch in response to
the State Department’s delay in providing timely written responses to
the eight sets of written questions submitted to her by members of the
panel, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Communications
Director Elizabeth S. Chouldjian told PanARMENIAN.Net.
"Senator Boxer not only provided Senators with the opportunity they
would otherwise have been denied to meaningfully review the nominee’s
responses, but also, very significantly, ensured that all Americans
citizens – including Armenian Americans and those who share our
commitment to ending the cycle of genocide – have a chance to study
her answers and take part in the civic discourse over a diplomatic
posting that has been the center of national attention since the
Administration’s firing of Ambassador John Evans over his truthful
remarks on the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA Executive Director
Aram Hamparian.
As of close of business the day before the Committee was set to vote on
the nomination, the nominee had yet to respond to all Senate inquiries,
with several responses only being provided hours before the scheduled
vote. The Senate Committee vote will likely be held following the
July 4th Congressional recess.
"The U.S. government – and certainly I – acknowledges and mourns
the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations that
devastated over one and a half million Armenians at the end of the
Ottoman Empire. The United States recognizes these events as one of the
greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the "Medz Yeghern" or Great
Calamity, as many Armenians refer to it. That is why every April the
President honors the victims and expresses American solidarity with
the Armenian people on Remembrance Day," Ms. Marie Yovanovitch said
in her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on
June 19, 2008.
President Bush’s previous nominee as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia,
Richard Hoagland, was subject to two legislative holds by Sen. Bob
Menendez (D-NJ) and was ultimately withdrawn by the Administration,
following the nominee’s statements denying the Armenian Genocide.