ANCA TROUBLED BY EVASIVE STAND OF U.S. AMBASSADOR DESIGNATE TO RA

DeFacto Agency
July 11 2008
Armenia

YEREVAN, 11.07.08. DE FACTO. Senator Barack Obama has received written
responses to the four written questions he submitted to U.S. Ambassador
Designate Marie Yovanovitch as a part of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee’s ongoing review of her nomination to serve as the next
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America (ANCA).

"We remain troubled by Ambassador Yovanovitch’s evasive answers,
her outright non-responses, and her refusal, in her replies to
Senator Obama and other Senators, to offer anything approaching
a reasonable or factually supportable explanation of the reasons
behind Administration’s misguided policy on the Armenian Genocide,"
said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "This being said,
it appears as though Ambassador Yovanovitch and her colleagues have
learned from the disastrous Hoagland experience and are coming to
understand that the U.S. Senate will not accept – and the Armenian
American community will never allow – an Ambassador to Armenia who
denies the Armenian Genocide."

To remind, Ambassador Yovanovitch appeared as a witness before
the Committee on June 19th. During this appearance, she faced
a series of pointed questions from Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
regarding the Bush Administration’s policy to mischaracterize
the Armenian Genocide. Afterwards, as many as eight Senators,
including Senator Menendez, submitted a series of written inquiries
to the nominee. Her responses to Senator Obama, the seventh set
of answers received to date, are available on the ANCA Website at:
nomination/ObamaYovanovitch_Responses.pdf
Concerne d that Senators had not been given enough time to review
Ms. Yovanovitch’s responses, with many submitted less than 24 hours
before the impending Committee vote, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
called for a delay in Senate consideration, until Senators had a
clearer picture of the nominee’s position. A Committee decision on
this posting is expected in mid-July.

"We compromise our standing as a nation when we require that our
Foreign Service officers either lie or conceal the truth in the conduct
of our foreign affairs. This exercise of euphemisms and evasion in
relation to the Armenian Genocide, which everyone knows is the result
of Turkish government pressure, undermines our credibility," added
Hamparian. "Our diplomats should be sent abroad with a clear message:
speak the truth and America will stand with you."