Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Senate Approves Bush's Pick For U.S. Armenia Envoy

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Senate Approves Bush's Pick For U.S. Armenia Envoy

    All Headline News
    Sept 7 2006

    Senate Approves Bush's Pick For U.S. Armenia Envoy

    September 7, 2006 7:58 p.m. EST


    Shaveta Bansal - All Headline News Staff Writer
    Washington D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations
    Committee, on Thursday, in a 13-5 vote approved President George W.
    Bush's choice of the new U.S. ambassador to Armenia, despite strong
    objections voiced by several members of the panel. The nomination, if
    endorsed by the full Senate, will entitle U.S. Ambassador to
    Tajikistan Richard Hoagland to take over from fellow diplomat John
    Evans, who had been withdrawn by the administration after he
    described Turkey's 1915-1923 assault on Armenia as genocide.

    Some of the committee members said that the nomination of Hoagland
    should be rejected to protest the administration decision to recall
    John Evans in May after he asserted the killing of 1.5 million
    Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide.

    The Bush administration has avoided using the term for the massacre
    in order not to offend Turkey, which Washington holds up as a model
    of democracy among Islamic countries.

    "In Darfur we are witnessing the first genocide of the 21st century
    and the Bush administration called it that," said Sen. Barbara Boxer,
    a California Democrat. Boxer said she could not support Hoagland
    "until we call the first genocide of the 20th century by its rightful
    name."

    Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, said no one
    was questioning Hoagland's credentials, adding that rejecting a
    qualified nominee "because of concerns of U.S. policy toward that
    country would set a troubling precedent."

    While Turkey has acknowledged that atrocities were committed, it has
    contended that it had no intention to eradicate Armenians so it was
    not genocide.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X