NOMINATION DELAYED
Washington Times
July 28,2011
Armenian-Americans are cheering Sen. Robert Menendez for blocking
the nomination of career diplomat John Heffern to serve as ambassador
to Armenia.
The New Jersey Democrat delayed a vote on Mr. Heffern’s confirmation in
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday after complaining
last week that President Obama continues to refuse to recognize
Turkey’s “genocide” of Armenians in World War I.
Senators frequently put a so-called “hold” on a nomination to object to
a particular nominee or focus attention on a White House policy issue.
“We would like to thank Sen. Menendez for affording his colleagues
greater time to scrutinize and make an informed determination,” said
Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee
of America.
Mr. Menendez made his intentions clear last week at a committee hearing
on Mr. Heffern’s nomination. The senator expressed his frustration
that Mr. Heffern declined to refer to the killing of 1.5 million
Armenians in 1915 as genocide.
During his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama referred to the Armenian
genocide under the old Ottoman Turkish Empire. As president, he has
avoided the term to prevent offending Turkey, a key NATO ally.
“This is an inartful dance that we do,” Mr. Menendez said at the July
13 hearing.
At the hearing, Mr. Heffern said that the massacre fits the definition
of genocide in international treaties, but he added that the president
makes the decision whether to call it that.
Mr. Hamparian called Mr. Heffern’s response a “painful spectacle”
by a senior U.S. diplomat “forced to dance and dodge around the
plain truth.”
Mr. Menendez, along with Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, also
blocked the nomination of career diplomat Douglas Farrar to serve
as ambassador to Nicaragua. They said Mr. Farrar was soft on Cuba in
his position as head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana.