A new U.S. Ambassador is arriving in Yerevan two years after John Evans was recalled

PanARMENIAN.Net - At last a U.S. Ambassador Plenipotentiary will lead the U.S. diplomatic mission in Armenia, and there will be finally put an end to the rumours that the U.S.-Armenian relations have worsened lately. Though many Armenian experts relate it to the February 19 Presidential Elections, it is already 22 months since the U.S. Ambassador left Armenia. Most likely the U.S. Armenian Community and Hay Dat have been satisfied with the statements of Marie Yovanovitch and the State Department claiming that a "Great massacre" occurred in 1915. "The Administration recognizes that the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations of over one and a half million Armenians were conducted by the Ottoman Empire. We indeed hold Ottoman officials responsible for those crimes." stated the letter of the State Department issued to the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Joe Biden in response to the questions on nominating Marie Yovanovitch to the post of the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. US Assistant Secretary Matthew Reynolds stated in the letter that during the Senate hearings Marie Yovanovitch had mentioned the International Visitors Program under consideration that would bring archivists from Turkey and Armenia to the United States for professional training. "Our goal is to help archivists protect the evidence of the past so that future generations will have the documentation of the mass killings and deportations of Armenians committed by Ottoman soldiers and other Ottoman officials in 1915. Our goal is not to open a debate on whether the Ottomans committed these horrendous acts; it is to help preserve the documentation that supports the truth of those events" declared Matthew Reynolds in the letter. "In her testimony, Ms. Yovanovitch tried to convey her deep empathy with the profound suffering of the Armenian people and in no way sought to cast any doubt on historical facts," the U.S. Assistant Secretary concluded.

In his turn Director of the Hay Dat Office Giro Manoyan noted that approval of Ambassador-designate Marie Yovanovitch culminated an important milestone toward recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. executive branch. "Twenty-two months after Senator Menendez put his hold on Richard Hoagland's nomination, through the written responses and clarifications of the Ambassador-designate Marie Yovanovitch and the U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, the US Department of State affirms that: a) Over one and a half million Armenians have fallen victim to the mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportations conducted by the Ottoman Empire", b) The US does not cast any doubt on the reality, and its goal is to help preserve the memory of one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, the Great Calamity. The refusal to qualify the tragedy of the Armenian nation as Genocide is simply a manifestation of the U.S. President's policy. The recent developments showed that the policy and efforts of the Armenian-American community in general and of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) in particular, have proved efficient. I am confident that the Armenian-Americans and their US supporters will soon achieve the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US President. Turkey must be troubled by the US current policy, since soon will arrive the day when the United States of America, its legislature, its executive branch and its President will require Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide," Mr. Manoyan concluded.


Everything is accurate, except for one thing: Ronald Reagan called the 1915 occurrences "Genocide". And, as far as we can remember, Turkey did not protest it much. Indeed, it was a different time; Armenia was under the USSR rule and no one could picture that the Karabakh War would break up and Ankara would have to take Azerbaijan's side. It was exactly then that Turkey became Azerbaijan's hostage, lobbying its interests in the U.S.A. By twist of fate, the author of the U.S. Resolution 106 on the Armenian Genocide was Adam Schiff, Jew by origin and some of the senators, who voted against Richard Hoagland, were Jews too…

As Washprofile claims the U.S. policy depends on the rigid influence of the Israeli lobby. It is a rather fragile coalition (composed of individuals and organizations), not controlled by a general center, its members sharing no common political ideology. In fact, there is only one thing that unites the coalition members: it is their aspiration to direct the American foreign policy toward stable and absolute support of Israel by the U.S. Thus, the Israeli lobby works in two fronts. It puts pressure on the legislative and executive bodies of the U.S., meanwhile forming a favourable image of Israel in public. And in order to carry out its intentions Israel is trying to put the discussions on the Near East problems into such a line of development that even theoretic prospect of changes in the U.S. policy would appear anti-national and absurd in the region. As a most vivid example of the Israeli persistence can serve the fact, that the latter has hardly ever been seriously criticized by either House of the Congress. Moreover, Dick Armey, Former House of Representatives Majority Leader, declared in September 2002 that one of his principal foreign-policy priorities was the defence of Israel and not that of the U.S.A, as it was expected. And since Turkey is one of Israel's allies, it is quite logical that the Israeli lobby has gripped Turkey as well and the most painful issue for Ankara is the Armenian Genocide.

Once Barack Obama occupies the Oval Office, changes will take effect in the foreign policy of the U.S. Israel will remain a priority country for the U.S., but Washington will certainly reconsider its position towards other countries, including Turkey.

Meanwhile the Turkish newspaper "Tasam" writes: "Certain U.S. groupings keep accusing Turkey of the Armenian Genocide. This fact may shake the Turkish-Armenian relations, which, on the official level, did not exist anyway. The strategic cooperation Moscow-Yerevan-Tehran on the one hand and Turkey-Azerbaijan on the other hand serve as the main reason why there are no relations established between Turkey and Armenia."