SENATOR PUTS ONE-MONTH HOLD ON BUSH’S NOMINEE FOR ARMENIA

Turkish Daily News
June 26 2008

UMÄ°T ENGÄ°NSOY

Pro-Armenian Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer Tuesday placed a one-month
hold on U.S. President George W. Bush’s pick for the ambassador to
Yerevan, hinting that she or a like-minded senator may permanently
block the nomination on grounds that the nominee is declining to
characterize World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman
empire as "genocide." The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday
was due to vote on the nominations of 22 would-be U.S. ambassadors,
including Marie Yovanovitch, the pick for the Armenian capital.It
eventually confirmed 21 of them, delaying only Yovanovitch’s case
until the committee’s next "business meeting," probably in mid-July,
a committee official told the Turkish Daily News. The reason was
Boxer’s hold."Senator Barbara Boxer today 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," the Armenian National Committee of
America, or ANCA, said in a written statement."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," said Aram Hamparian,
executive director of ANCA, the largest U.S. Armenian group.Democratic
presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden, the
Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
were among the senators sending written questions to be replied by
Yovanovitch, the ANCA said.Richard Hoagland, Bush’s earlier nominee
for Yerevan, could never win the Senate’s confirmation for the post,
as Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, another strong supporter of the
Armenian cause, blocked his nomination two years ago on grounds that
he had failed to qualify the Armenian killings as genocide.

History repeating itself?

Menendez last week also interrogated Yovanovitch during her
confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Despite
Menendez’ insistent questioning, Yovanovitch, like Hoagland, declined
to use the g-word.Analysts said that Boxer, Menendez or any other
like-minded senator might permanently block Yovanovitch’s nomination
too.The U.S. ambassadorial position in Yerevan has been vacant
since May 2006, when John Evans, the last ambassador, was fired
in the wake of his remarks qualifying the killings as genocide in
defiance of Washington’s official policy.Bush then sought to replace
him with Hoagland, whose case was later understood to be doomed.Senior
U.S. officials need the Senate’s approval to take up their posts. Under
U.S. laws, even a single senator has a power to put a hold on
nominations of senior administration officials, including would-be
ambassadors, although such moves are usually rare because they put the
dissenting senator under intense pressure.A genocide resolution came
close to passage at the U.S. House of Representatives last fall, and
only strong Turkish warnings that such a move would destroy the Bush
administration’s focused efforts to cultivate U.S.-Turkey relations
caused it to be shelved.But analysts here warn that Turkey almost
certainly will face the same problem in Congress next year. Making
things worse for Turkey, Obama strongly supports the Armenian position.

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