SEN. MENENDEZ URGES AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY NOMINEE TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.09.2008 16:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Senators Bob Menendez and John Kerry pressed
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey nominee James Jeffrey to explain the
Administration’s apparent renewed backing for Turkey’s widely
discredited push for a "historical commission" on the Armenian
Genocide, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Communications
Director Elizabeth Chouldjian told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"We want to share our special thanks with Senator Menendez for,
once again, shining a powerful international spotlight on the
Administration’s policy of complicity in Turkey’s denial of the
Armenian Genocide," stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.

"We are especially thankful for his incisive line of questioning
regarding the State Department’s flawed and inconsistent position on
Turkey’s self-serving proposal for a historical commission. A clear
illustration of the bankruptcy of the Administration’s policy on the
Armenian Genocide was the nominee’s convoluted response to the simple
question, posed by Senator Menendez: ‘If Turkey would be willing to
recognize the Armenian Genocide, would the United States be willing
to do so?’"

Senators Menendez and Kerry are members of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and have veto power. Menendez has twice blocked Richard
Hoagland’s nomination as Ambassador to Armenia for his denial of the
Armenian Genocide.