Do Armenian organizations in the U.S.A. delay their approval of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hamparian is sure that the Armenian American community will never allow an Ambassador to Armenia who denies the Armenian Genocide. "Reputation of a nation is put at stake when demanding high-rank diplomats to lie or to distort the truth in compliance with the country's foreign policy. The policy of denying the Armenian Genocide, which is known to everyone, is a result of pressure exerted by the Turkish Government, which undermines our confidence," Hamparian noted. If the problem is in the use of the term "genocide", Hamparian is right. However, in the commission hearings Ambassador-Designate Marie Yovanovitch said exactly the following: "The U.S. government - and certainly I - acknowledges and mourns the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations that devastated over one and a half million Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire. The United States recognizes these events as one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the "Medz Yeghern" or Great Calamity, as many Armenians refer to it. That is why every April the President honors the victims and expresses American solidarity with the Armenian people on Remembrance Day." How else could Yovanovitch characterize the events of 1915? She said more than she could, we suppose.

In fact, the term "genocide" is missing in the statements of Marie Yovanovitch. However, it is quite logical, as it has been President Bush's policy, as well as that of previous presidents of both parties, not to use that term. It is quite possible that the pressure of the Turkish Government is too intense. But there are also the interests of the U.S.A., which depend on more important issues rather than the recognition of "Great massacre" as genocide, which would urge Washington to reconsider her foreign policy. Once again the Armenians pin their hopes on the U.S. Presidential candidate, who, in this particular case, is Barack Obama. But is there any guarantee that elected a president, Obama will repeat the words of Ronald Reagan on the Armenian Genocide?

On May 24, 1920 President Woodrow Wilson referred to the Congress underlining the severe massacre and forced deportation that the Armenians experienced at the time of the World War I. The fact that the concept of «genocide» did not exist at that time does not mean that massacre and deportation were not carried out then. On February 9, 1916 based on the reports of Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, the U.S. Senate signed a declaration on massacre and forced deportation of 1.5 million Armenians and on August 6, 1919 the U.S. Congress passed a concurrent resolution.

In the Congress documents the term "Armenian Genocide" appeared in 1975 only. But then Turkey became a strategic ally of the U.S.A. against the USSR. American missiles and monitoring stations were installed right on the Armenian border, and U.S. foreign policy radically changed. Moreover, America began to openly support Israel against the Arabs, and the issue of recognizing or denying the Armenian Genocide was set aside. And now, when Yerevan is badly in need for a U.S. Ambassador, Armenian organizations delay their approval, which, by the way, is quite favorable to Turkey.

The issue of appointing a new U.S. Ambassador to Armenia was also discussed at the meeting of RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The RA Foreign Minister expressed hope that candidature of the new Ambassador would be soon confirmed, which would encourage development of the Armenian-U.S. relations.

In her response to Senator Obama's written inquiry Marie Yovanovitch noted that the U.S. Embassy in Ankara is committed to working with the Government of Turkey on ways in which the atrocities of 1915 can be studied. "Besides, the Administration is currently laying the groundwork for an International Visitor Program that would bring archivists from the Turkish State Archives to the U.S. to look at the ways in which we do historical research. As a confidence building measure, the U.S. Government has contacted Armenian archivists to participate in the program, in the hope that, upon return, the archivists from both countries could work together on a joint program that would study the issue.
In addition, our Embassies in Armenia and Turkey take every opportunity in meetings with the Governments of these two countries, and with civil society leaders from both countries, to encourage improved dialogue between them," Yovanovitch concluded.