The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) welcomed a second "hold" placed by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on the controversial confirmation of Richard E. Hoagland as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The New Jersey legislator's decision comes just two days after the Bush Administration re-nominated Hoagland, a diplomat whose denial of the Armenian Genocide generated widespread Congressional opposition and Armenian American community outrage culminating in his first Senatorial "hold" in the recently concluded 109th Congress. "We join with Armenians from New Jersey and throughout the United States in thanking Senator Menendez, yet again, for his steadfast and principled stand in blocking the Hoagland nomination," said Ken Hachikian, Chairman of the ANCA.

In a statement released earlier today, Senator Menendez explained that, "given the circumstances and controversy surrounding Mr. Hoagland's nomination, I believe that the best way to move forward would be for the president to nominate a new candidate for this ambassadorship." Sen. Menendez denounced the policy of U.S. complicity in Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide, stating, "I also believe that the State Department and the Bush administration are just flat-out wrong in their refusal to recognize the Armenian Genocide. It is well past time for American diplomacy to drop the euphemisms, the wink-wink, nod-nod brand of foreign policy that overlooks heinous atrocities committed around the world. And we must call genocide by its name," noted Sen. Menendez.