John Evans Continues to Exercise Honor and Privelege of U.S. Ambassador

PanARMENIAN.Net - John Evans is our Ambassador and he continues to exercise that honor and privilege

Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman of the U.S. Department of State said when commenting on the report of his recall due of his speech on Armenian Genocide. As it was reported earlier, ANCA's letter addressed to Secretary Rice earlier this week said in part, "the prospect that a U.S. envoy's posting - and possibly his career - has been cut short due to his honest and accurate description of a genocide is profoundly offensive to American values and U.S. standing abroad - particularly in light of President Bush's call for moral clarity in the conduct of our international affairs." Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Co-Chairman of the Armenian Issues Caucus, also expressed his extreme disappointment to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over reports that the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, John Marshall Evans, is being forced from office based upon truthful and forthright statements last year about the Armenian Genocide. To remind, speaking last year to an Armenian American gathering at the University of California at Berkeley, Amb. Evans said, "I will today call it the Armenian Genocide… I informed myself in depth about it. I think we, the U.S. government, owe you, our fellow citizens, a more frank and honest way of discussing this problem. Today, as someone who has studied it… there's no doubt in my mind [as to] what happened . . . I think it is unbecoming of us, as Americans, to play word games here. I believe in calling things by their name." Referring to the Armenian Genocide as "the first genocide of the 20th century," he said: "I pledge to you, we are going to do a better job at addressing this issue." Amb. Evans also disclosed that he had consulted with a legal advisor at the State Department who had confirmed that the events of 1915 were "genocide by definition."