Bush's Nominee for new ambassador to Armenia has Publicly Denied the Genocide.

[Soorp Asdvadz]

Whoever gets nominated to be the ambassador of USA in Armenia, will follow the general policy. Personal opinions are prohibited for an ambassador; he will only speak whatever he was told by the white house.

Washington had a great relationship with Turkey. I said "had" because clearly the relationship is not as it was before and it’s fading out slowly. You can see what I mean by going through these points:

1. Relationship's peak was from mid 80s till end of 90s where US army basis in Turkey were vital during the former Soviet Union.

2. From 2000 onwards relationship started to have bumps, where Turkey was pushing the White House to interfere and back up Turkey to enter the EU.

3. Washington couldn't help Turkey to get into EU because he formed alliance with EU to go on with their plans for the middle-east.

4. IRAQI war was almost the end of the relationship between Turkey and US when Turkey wanted to join the US army in invading IRAQ (so they can solve the Kurdish problem which they are having with northern Iraqi territory) BUT Washington said NO and Turkey closed the US army basis. As a result, US army launched their attacks from the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabian borders.

5. The Largest USA embassy in the world is now built in Yerevan. Anyone wonders why? It’s for the next phase of the general politics of the world. It’s Turkey's time now, and very soon. No one likes Turkey to remain powerful in this region (including their allies as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, etc.)

If you look at Israel in middle-east the best support receiver from US between all that Arab countries, I believe Armenia will be the same in its region in 10-15 years the biggest support receiver from EU and USA between Turkey and Turkish alliances region (which are surrounding us)

So it really doesn't matter who is the ambassador now, because when its time to talk about the Armenian Genocide FILE they will, its just not right now, but do believe its in the list and we shall make the SEVR agreement with our new borders applied officially.

Nice man, that's excellent...it makes sense, i think Turkey might be getting full of themselves a little, at least it seems that way by what you are saying above...

[Joseph]

WASHINGTON
Former U.S. envoy to Armenia tells how 1 word ended his career
By Michael Doyle
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Ambassador John Evans ended one life and started another when he uttered one remarkable word: genocide.

As the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, and a career diplomat, Evans knew the uses of circumlocution. Some words, he understood, must be avoided. But then, speaking in Fresno, Los Angeles and Berkeley, Calif., two years ago, Evans violated U.S. policy by declaring that Armenians were the victims of a genocide from 1915 to 1923.

"Clearly, I had stepped out of the box," Evans said in an interview. "But what I didn't know precisely was what the reaction would be."

He found out soon enough.

Evans' State Department superiors published apologies in his name. They cut him out of decision-making, then ended his ambassador's posting altogether. His Foreign Service career collapsed, while his fellow diplomats debated whether he was heroic or foolhardy.

"I had some colleagues who managed to tell me I did the right thing," Evans said, "and I had others who were dubious."

The fallout continues: The United States still lacks a permanent ambassador in Yerevan because of Senate discontent with Evans' treatment.

April 24 is the day that Armenians worldwide commemorate the start of the 1915 horrors. Members of Congress will give speeches. President Bush will issue a traditional declaration, omitting the linchpin word "genocide."

Evans will speak freely at the National Press Club, something he couldn't do during his 35-year State Department career. He also has written a manuscript, for which he's seeking a book publisher.

"I came to what I felt was an ethical dilemma," Evans said. "I felt I could not carry out the policy of denial of the Armenian genocide."

April 24, 1915, was when leaders of the Ottoman Empire's Young Turk government began rounding up Armenian leaders. What happened next is unsettling history. Armenians say an estimated 1.5 million died.

Numerous historians and myriad state and foreign governments have concluded that the Ottoman Empire events amounted to genocide.

Under international law adopted in 1948, genocide is the "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." It covers killing and deliberately inflicting "conditions of life calculated to bring about (the population's) physical destruction in whole or in part."

Turkey fiercely opposes the description of the Armenian deaths as genocide, maintaining that the Armenians were caught in a complex, multi-front war and that considerably fewer than 1.5 million died.

The diaspora cast Armenians out to U.S. areas that include California's San Joaquin Valley, New Jersey and Michigan. These concentrated populations prompted American politicians to take up the Armenian cause.

"The failure of the domestic and international authorities to punish those responsible for the Armenian Genocide is a reason why similar genocides have recurred and may recur in the future," says a pending House of Representatives resolution that Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., co-authored this year.

Some 190 members co-sponsored the resolution. It hasn't been scheduled for a vote yet, amid intense lobbying. Last week, members of the Turkish Parliament lobbied against it.

The Bush administration opposes the resolution, as did the Clinton administration. Although President Reagan officially recognized "the genocide of the Armenians" in April 1981, the standard administration response has been resistance.

"It's a tragedy; everybody agrees with that," Richard Hoagland, Bush's nominee to replace Evans, declared at his Senate confirmation hearing last June, but "instead of getting stuck in the past and vocabulary, I would like to see what we can do to bring different sides together."

His nomination has been frozen, caught in the Capitol Hill conflict. The resolution's fate turns on whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., kills the bill at Bush's request, Radanovich predicted.

Now 58, Evans said that no one had warned him explicitly to watch his words before he became ambassador to Armenia in 2004. Everyone simply knew, he said, that "there was a taboo" against the word genocide. He eventually decided that he needed to "help people understand" the history.

"I chose to do something which goes against the grain of every diplomat," Evans said, and that was "to break with the policy of the United States government."

When his comments became widely known, the State Department issued apologies. The statements included made-up quotes that Evans now says others crafted and attributed to him.

"Let's put it this way: I had no role in it," he said of the statements.

The State Department stresses that ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, and officials have publicly denied that Evans was pulled from Yerevan prematurely.

Nonetheless, he and his wife, Donna, have been living at their daughter's house in New York since last September. They can't move back into their own Washington-area home yet, because they had rented it out for the full three years they had expected to be in Armenia.

[Joseph]

JOHN EVANS CALLED ON CONGRESS TO PASS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION

Yerkir
26.04.2007 13:09

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reaffirmed his
"hold" on the controversial nomination of Richard Hoagland to serve
as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia in his remarks today at an Armenian
Genocide observance organized by the Congressional Armenian Caucus
in Capitol Hill's historic Cannon Caucus Room, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA)

The Bush Administration has twice nominated Richard Hoagland to
replace John Marshall Evans, a decorated career diplomat who was
fired last year by the Secretary of State for speaking truthfully
about the Armenian Genocide.

>>From the outset, the Hoagland nomination has been the focus
of intense controversy, first because of the State Department's
willingness to explain its firing of Evans, and later due to his
denial of the Armenian Genocide in his responses to questions raised
during his confirmation hearing.

These remarks, which extended far beyond the euphemistic word games
traditionally employed by the State Department, sparked outrage among
Armenian Americans and widespread Congressional opposition to his
posting in Yerevan.

Looking to Ambassador Evans, who was seated in the first row of
the standing room only hall, Senator Menendez said, "I wish the
Ambassador was back in Armenia, but if we cannot get him there,
I refuse to release my hold on Ambassador Hoagland because of his
testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

The Senator added, to a sustained ovation, that, "the President
[should] appoint a new nominee who will represent the interests of
the United States and Armenia much better."

In his remarks, Ambassador John Evans, the program's keynote speaker,
called upon Congress to pass the Armenian Genocide Resolution. In a
speech repeatedly interrupted by applause, he said, "If we dare not
call the 1915 events genocide, we make it more likely that current
genocides, such as that in Darfur, will continue and future genocides
will occur...

This is why, ladies and gentlemen, after 92 years, the time has come
to call a spade a spade. House Resolution 106 on the affirmation of
the United States record on the Armenian Genocide should be adopted
by the Congress." The former envoy continued, stressing: "History
does matter. Truth does matter.

Justice does matter."

[Gavur]

Ex-Karabakh Mediator To Run U.S. Embassy In Armenia

By Ruben Meloyan

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2007/06/B4480A70-928E-43B1-984C-880E87F1AA4D.ASP

The United States has named a new, more high-ranking diplomat to run its embassy in Yerevan in the continuing absence of a U.S. ambassador to Armenia, it emerged on Wednesday.

A U.S. embassy official said Rudolf Perina will take over from Anthony Godfrey, the deputy chief of mission, as U.S. charge d’affaires in Yerevan next month.

Unlike Godfrey, Perina has the diplomatic rank of ambassador and has served as U.S. ambassador to former Yugoslavia and Moldova in the past. He is better known in Armenia as the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE’s Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh from 2001-2004.

“Rudolf Perina will arrive in Armenia on July 10,” Tom Mittnacht, head of the U.S. embassy’s public affairs section, told RFE/RL. “He has the rank of ambassador but is coming to Armenia not as an ambassador but as a charge d’affaires.”

Mittnacht said another senior American diplomat, Richard Hoagland, remains President George W. Bush’s ambassador designate to Armenia.

Hoagland’s congressional confirmation continues to be blocked by a pro-Armenian member of the U.S. Senate over his failure to describe as genocide the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey. Senator Robert Menendez pledged last April to keep his so-called “hold” on the ambassadorial appointment.

The last U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Evans, is believed to have been recalled by Washington last year for publicly referring to the 1915-1918 slaughter of some 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as the first genocide of the 20th century. The Bush administration refuses to use the politically sensitive term with regard to the mass killings for fear of antagonizing Turkey, a key U.S. ally.

“By appointing Ambassador Perina as charge d’affaires, the State Department took into account his rich experience and knowledge of Armenia as well as his personal and business ties with top Armenian leaders, which will contribute to continuity in our bilateral relations with Armenia,” Mittnacht said.

[Joseph]

http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg196165.html

Bush to Send Amb. Hoagland Elsewhere
After Nomination to Armenia is Blocked

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

After languishing for more than a year in Washington, D.C., Richard Hoagland,
U.S. Ambassador Designate to Armenia, is about to be reassigned to another
country, according to several confidential but highly reliable sources.
Hoagland, who was U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan in 2006, was nominated by
Pres. Bush to replace John Evans as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. Evans was forced
into early retirement last year, after he used the words "Armenian Genocide"
to describe the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey, during his visit to
California in February 2005. Even after his public apology for this "indiscretion,"
the State Department still pressured the American Foreign Service Association
to rescind the "Constructive Dissent" Award that Amb. Evans was selected to
receive.
Armenian-Americans were incensed that the career of a seasoned diplomat like
Amb. Evans was being cut short due to his use of a single word. They were
deeply offended that State Department officials did not have the decency to
publicly announce the reason for Amb. Evans' forced exit. When asked to comment on
the news of Amb. Evans' recall, various U.S. officials kept repeating like a
broken record that "ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the President." Since
the Turkish Ambassador to the U.S. and lobbyists hired by Turkey had protested
to the Bush administration about Amb. Evans' "taboo" statement on the Armenian
Genocide, some wondered whether U.S. ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the
President of Turkey or the President of the United States!
In response to the disrespect shown by the State Department toward the
Armenian-American community and particularly the critical issue of the Armenian
Genocide, Armenian-Americans asked that the U.S. Senate block the nomination of
Amb. Hoagland. After lengthy debates in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Sen. Robert Menendez (Dem.-N.J.) placed a hold on Hoagland's nomination, thus
blocking his assignment as the next ambassador to Armenia.
Requests by this writer and others asking the State Department to meet with
Armenian-American community leaders and come to a mutually acceptable solution
were ignored. Bush Administration officials kept repeating that Hoagland
remained the President's nominee, disingenuously claiming that it was important for
Armenia to have a U.S. Ambassador. If it were that important for the United
States to have an Ambassador in Yerevan, many wondered why had the Bush
administration recalled the fine ambassador - John Evans - it already had in place?
Furthermore, on several occasions during the year when the Senate was in recess
or on vacation, Pres. Bush declined to use his authority to appoint Amb.
Hoagland without Senate approval. The administration must have recognized that
circumventing the Senate would have had negative consequences for both the
nominee and the President himself.
The administration also opted not to withdraw the nominee's name from further
Senate consideration. Instead, when the newly-elected Congress started its
deliberations in early January, Pres. Bush's advisors, showing complete lack of
political judgment, talked the President into resubmitting Hoagland's name to
the Senate. Sen. Menendez then placed a new hold on his nomination, thus
ensuring that the Senate would not approve Hoagland as Ambassador to Armenia.
Since the State Department had rejected all offers to meet with
Armenian-American community leaders to discuss Hoagland's nomination, and the President had
not exercised his right to make a recess appointment, the only sensible
option left on the table was to withdraw Hoagland's nomination and replace him with
another nominee. The administration was repeatedly assured that should
another reasonable name be submitted to the Senate, there would no objection or
obstruction from the Armenian community and the U.S. Senate.
At last, it appears that the administration has come to the conclusion that
Hoagland's nomination is hopelessly dead in the water. The State Departmentis
finally willing to drop its oft-announced position that Hoagland remains its
nominee for Armenia.
After languishing for a whole year at an empty desk in the State Department,
Amb. Hoagland deserves to have an assignment at a diplomatic post in a country
other than Armenia. He has been caught in the midst of a controversy not of
his own doing. 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 toward the Armenian-American community on the
core issue of the Armenian Genocide.

[Joseph]

Hoagland is officially dk'ed

White House bows to Senate pressure on naming envoy to Armenia
The Associated Press
2007-08-03 21:17:28.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -
The White House gave in to Democratic objections and on Friday withdrew the nomination of a career diplomat to be ambassador to Armenia.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., had placed a hold on the nomination of Richard Hoagland because of Hoagland's refusal to call the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide.

A hold is a parliamentary privilege accorded to senators that prevents a nomination from going forward to a confirmation hearing.

Hoagland's confirmation was also blocked by Senate Democrats in the last Congress and the Bush administration resubmitted his name in January when the new Congress convened.

Hoagland's predecessor, John Evans, reportedly had his tour of duty in Armenia cut short because, in a social setting, he referred to the killings as genocide.

In urging the administration to submit another candidate, Menendez said "the State Department and the Bush administration are just flat-out wrong in their refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide. It is well past time to drop the euphemisms, the wink-wink, nod-nod brand of diplomacy that overlooks heinous atrocities around the world."

The administration's move was welcomed by Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who represents portions of Southern California's San Gabriel Valley - home to a large population of Armenian-Americans.

"The president was right to withdraw Mr. Hoagland's nomination," Schiff said. "During his confirmation hearings, Mr. Hoagland continued to deny that the massacre of a million and a half Armenians between 1915 and 1923 was genocide, thereby compounding the injury done to the Armenian people and, especially, the few remaining survivors of the first genocide of the 20th Century. I hope that the president will soon nominate a new ambassador who will be more forthcoming in discussing the Armenian genocide."

The administration has warned that even a congressional debate on the genocide question could damage relations with Turkey, a moderate Muslim nation that is a NATO member and an important strategic ally.

Turkey has adamantly denied claims by scholars that its predecessor Ottoman state killed Armenians in a planned genocide.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Gavur]

I wonder what this cost us?

[Joseph]

I wonder what this cost us?

It already cost a good man (John Evans) his job. Despite not having an embassador, the US Charges de Affaires was still present in Yerevan.

What this experience has shown is that some of our friends will fight the good fight and are not afraid of the Bush adminisration.

[Joseph]

It already cost a good man (John Evans) his job. Despite not having an embassador, the US Charges de Affaires was still present in Yerevan.

What this experience has shown is that some of our friends will fight the good fight and are not afraid of the Bush adminisration.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usarmenia4aug04,1,4792554.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

White House gives in on Armenia envoy
It pulls the nomination of Richard Hoagland. Senate objected because he wouldn't call mass killings by Turks 'genocide.'
By Paul Richter, Times Staff Writer
August 4, 2007

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday formally withdrew its nominee for ambassadorship to Armenia, yielding to senators who opposed the candidate because he refused to call World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide.

The move came after the nominee, Richard E. Hoagland, a career foreign service officer, asked President Bush in a letter to drop the effort, saying he believed there was no longer any chance the Senate would confirm his selection.

The administration submitted Hoagland's nomination to the Senate in 2006, and again in January. But opposition quickly took shape because in his confirmation hearing Hoagland, following administration policy, deplored the killings but avoided using the word "genocide."

Turkey, an important U.S. ally, views the word as provocative and inaccurate and has insisted that the deaths of 1.2 million Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire were not acts of genocide.

The mass killings are an increasingly contentious issue between Congress and the Bush administration, and between the United States and Turkey.

A majority of members of the House is now on record favoring a pending resolution that would officially recognize the 1915-1923 killings as genocide. But Turkey, whose help the administration needs in the Middle East, has been lobbying against the measure, warning that it would further alienate the Turkish public.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who had used a parliamentary tactic called a "hold" to block the nomination, said, "We're obviously pleased that the administration came to understand that I had no intention of withdrawing my hold."

He said he hoped the new nominee would be "somebody who understands the reality of the Armenian genocide and can express himself or herself when the time comes for a nomination hearing."

Lawmakers and Armenian American activists had been watching the nomination closely after the administration last year removed the previous U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John M. Evans, for calling the killings genocide.

U.S. officials said they expected Hoagland to be nominated for another post soon. Bush believes Hoagland "would have done a wonderful job, and thanks him for his willingness to serve his country," said Emily A. Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman.

The administration did not identify its choice for the next nominee. But officials said they had not shifted their position on the genocide issue, raising the possibility that the impasse between the administration and Congress would continue.

Hoagland has been in the foreign service for two decades. He was ambassador to Tajikistan, and he has served in Russia, in several posts in central and South Asia, and in staff posts in Washington. The White House nominated Hoagland in the fall to replace Evans, who left Armenia in September after two years on the job.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) said the administration had erred badly in adopting a view of the Armenian killings "to mollify an ally." He said it was "bad enough" that the administration had evaded the truth on the deaths of 1.2 million Armenians and "even worse when they fired a career diplomat for speaking the truth."

Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, said Hoagland not only avoided the word genocide, but "seems to go out of his way to suggest that genocide never occurred and that we shouldn't speak out against it. Somebody like that can't effectively serve as ambassador to Armenia; this issue is such an important part of your task."

In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, 9% of Turks held a favorable view of the U.S., a level considerably lower than in other Muslim areas, including the Palestinian territories.

[email protected]

[Joseph]

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier

Now that the White House has been forced to withdraw Richard Hoagland's
nomination as ambassador to Armenia, it is time to reflect upon the consequences of this political tug-of-war between the Armenian American community and the Bush Administration. Here are my reflections on this issue: -- The Armenian-American community was obligated to come to the defense of Amb. John Evans, an accomplished diplomat and a man of great integrity, who was wrongly dismissed by the Bush administration simply for uttering the words "Armenian Genocide," on a speaking tour of Armenian-American communities in California, in February 2005. He was forced into "early retirement" despite his issuance of an apology and a "clarification" for using the term "genocide," and stripped of the "Constructive Dissent" award granted to him by the American Foreign Service Association. This fine gentleman who lost his job because of speaking the truth deserves the respect and gratitude of Armenians and people of integrity worldwide.
-- By opposing the dismissal of Amb. Evans, Armenian-Americans were actually
defending their own cause. They simply could not stand idly by when a public
official was losing his job for siding with the truth on the Armenian
Genocide. Had Armenians remained silent, no other official would ever dare to speak up
on this issue, knowing that this would jeopardizing his or her career.
However, supporting those who tell the truth on the Armenian Genocide would
encourage others to come forward without jeopardizing their careers.
-- Officials in Turkey and Azerbaijan were closely following the developments
about ambassadors Evans and Hoagland. Had the dismissal of the former and the
nomination of the latter taken place without any complaints from the
Armenian-American community, Turkish and Azeri officials would have been emboldened to
press the Bush administration to take a tougher stand on other issues,
including the congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide, the blockade of
Armenia, and the Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict. However, having witnessed Pres.
Bush's withdrawal of Hoagland's nomination, Turks and Azeris became more wary of
the political clout of the Armenian-American community. After extensively
covering the developments on this issue over the course of the past year, Turkish
and Azeri newspapers published several articles during the last weekend with
headlines such as: "Bush gave in to demands of Armenian lobby" (Zaman) or
"[Armenian] lobby forced Bush into submission"
(Milliyet).
-- During the past couple of years, U.S. officials have been monitoring the
Armenian-American community's reaction to the dismissal of Amb. Evans and the
nomination of Amb. Hoagland. The Neo-Cons in Washington, goaded by their
Turkish cronies, completely mismanaged both decisions. They did a major disservice
to their Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States, who has been
burdened with many other domestic and foreign policy setbacks. Pres. Bush's
underlings acted vindictively towards Amb. Evans and botched the briefing of
Amb. Hoagland for his Senate Foreign Relations Committee appearance. Bush
administration officials were also surprised and dismayed that their scheme to
quietly replace Evans with Hoagland was made public by this writer, several months
before both decisions were officially announced by the White House.
Complicating matters further for the administration, this writer suggested more than a
year ago that the Senate place a hold on Hoagland's nomination. After Sen.
Robert Menendez (Dem. N.J.) did place a hold on Hoagland's nomination last
September, and after the Republicans lost their majority in the Senate last November,
Pres. Bush unwisely re-nominated him in January, thus forcing Sen. Menendez
to place a second hold on the nominee. It took the White House more than a year
to realize that Hoagland had no chance of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Hopefully, Bush administration officials have learned a valuable lesson from
this troubling episode. Maybe next time, before taking another arbitrary
decision involving Armenian-Americans, particularly on the Armenian Genocide issue,
the White House would consider the political as well as moral implications of
its policies.
-- Finally, having successfully lobbied to block the administration's
nominee as envoy to Armenia, the Armenian-American community has hopefully become
more self-confident in fighting for its rights at the highest levels of the U.S.
government. All those Armenian-Americans who were reluctant to join in this
effort, thinking that "you can't fight City Hall," should now be convinced that
the community can win such battles, just as it won against TIME magazine,
PBS, and the Los Angeles Times.
Hopefully, the administration's next nominee as envoy to Armenia would be
better briefed and told to give more thoughtful answers to the Senators'
questions on the Armenian Genocide. Sen. Menendez was quoted by the AP last week as
saying that he hoped "the next nominee will bring a different understanding to
this issue." Unless the White House becomes more accommodating on this issue,
Sen. Menendez may exercise his right of placing a hold once again.
The ideal solution to the administration's dilemma would be to allow an early
vote in the House and Senate on the pending resolutions on the Armenian
Genocide. Once these resolutions are approved by Congress, the next nominee would
have no problem acknowledging the Armenian Genocide during his or her Senate
confirmation hearings and subsequent tour of duty in Armenia. The sooner these
pending resolutions are adopted, the easier would be the confirmation process
of the next nominee.