The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared the way for full Senate confirmation of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia designate Lynne Tracy and U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan designate Earle Litzenberger, following careful Senate scrutiny, supported by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), across a broad array of U.S. policies regarding Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Armenian Genocide.

The decision comes after a two-week delay, requested by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Democrat Robert Menendez (D-NJ), allowing for Senators to seek clarification regarding a recent proposal by National Security Advisor John Bolton to sell U.S. weapons to Azerbaijan. The ANCA opposes the sale or transfer of U.S. weapons to Azerbaijan as a threat to both Armenia and Artsakh.

U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Lynne Tracy’s approval comes in the wake of intense questioning by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Bob Menendez regarding the U.S. policy of complicity in Turkey’s obstruction of justice for the Armenian Genocide. Ms. Tracy, while stating that “The Trump Administration and I personally acknowledge the historical facts of what took place at the end of the Ottoman Empire – of the mass killings, the forced deportations and marches that ended 1.5 million lives and a lot of suffering,” stopped short of properly characterizing the crime as genocide.