RICHARD HOAGLAND NOT TO BE APPOINTED AS US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA?
PanARMENIAN.Net
17.07.2007 14:22 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Richard Hoagland, US Ambassador Designate to Armenia,
is about to be reassigned to another country, according to several
confidential but highly reliable sources. This decision was made
after his candidacy was twice blocked the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. Both times Sen. Robert Menendez from New Jersey placed
hold on Hoagland’s nomination, The California Courier reports.
"The US administration must have realized that Richard Hoagland’s
nomination as Ambassador to Armenia is despairing. After languishing
for a whole year at an empty desk in the State Department, Ambassador
Hoagland deserves to have an assignment at a diplomatic post in a
country other than Armenia. His superiors’ mismanagement of this issue
should no longer keep his career in limbo. Only time will tell if
the Bush administration has properly understood from this episode the
deeply-felt sentiments of the Armenian-American community. In view of
the embarrassment suffered by the State Department on this occasion,
it is hoped that, henceforth, the administration would think long and
hard before showing any more disrespect towards the Armenian-American
community on the core issue of the Armenian Genocide of 1915," The
California Courier writes.
On September 7, 2006 thanks to Senator Robert Menendez’s efforts
Hoagland’s candidacy was blocked in the Senate. On December 1 the New
Jersey legislator joined with Majority Leader Harry Reid in calling on
the Administration to offer a new candidacy for this post. The negative
attitude towards Richard Hoagland’s nomination is connected with his
outright denial of the Armenian Genocide in response to questions posed
during and after his June 2006 confirmation hearing before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. Former US Ambassador to Yerevan John Evans
was forced into early retirement last year, after he used the words
"Armenian Genocide" to describe the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey.