NEW U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TAKE UP POST IN ARMENIA

Hurriyet
Sept 17 2008
Turkey

The U.S. will once again have an ambassador in Armenia, more than
two years after the previous one had his tour of duty cut short.

The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said Marie Yovanovitch is to arrive
Wednesday night to take up her new post, the AP reported.

A career diplomat, she had previously served as the U.S. ambassador
in Kyrgyzstan.

The last ambassador was withdrawn in 2006 after he referred to the
1915 incidents as "genocide". This was in defiance of U.S. policy.

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey
rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least
as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.

In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan took a first step
towards resolving the issue by proposing a joint commission of
historians launch an investigation and publish their conclusions,
but the proposal was rejected by Yerevan.

At her confirmation hearings, Yovanovitch explained U.S. policy but
would not comment on whether she believed "genocide" had occurred.