U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to debate new ambassadorial nomination to Armenia in June

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will debate new ambassadorial nomination to Armenia in June, a source in the U.S. Department of State told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.



In March, President Bush nominated Marie L. Yovanovitch, currently ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, for Yerevan. If the Committee approves Ms. Yovanovitch as the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, the designation should be further confirmed by the Senate.



However, the source voiced doubt that new Ambassador can be approved under the current administration.



Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who two years ago placed a legislative hold on genocide denier Richard Hoagland's nomination for U.S. ambassador to Armenia, said he will do the same if President George W. Bush's new ambassadorial nominee also fails to use proper wording for the Armenian Genocide.



The United States has not been represented in the Armenian capital at the ambassadorial level since May 2006 when President Bush fired ambassador John Evans over his public mention of the Armenian Genocide.



Observers in Washington think that absence of an ambassador in Yerevan damages the Armenian-American relations and put blame indirectly on the Armenian community of the U.S.