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BUSH'S ARMENIA NOMINEE MAY FACE GENOCIDE QUESTION
by Michael Doyle Bee Washington Bureau
Fresno Bee
April 2, 2008 Wednesday
California
President Bush is trying again to fill a long-vacant ambassador's seat
to Armenia -- a posting that has become entangled in U.S. politics.
In a move that could either revive a Capitol Hill conflict or reveal
that passions have cooled, Bush has announced plans to nominate career
diplomat Marie L. Yovanovitch as the ambassador to Armenia.
If she is confirmed, she will replace the previous ambassador, John
Evans, who was recalled in 2006 after he gave speeches in California
endorsing claims of an Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire.
Those claims inflame sentiment in Turkey.
Last fall, Turkish officials protested bitterly after the House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved a resolution that condemned the killings of
Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide. Democrats withdrew support for
the resolution after President Bush called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
to ask that it not be considered by the full House of Representatives.
The collapse of the House resolution means that the Yovanovitch
nomination may become this year's highest-profile issue for
Armenian-Americans who have championed the genocide issue for decades.
It also could become mired in the U.S. presidential campaign.
Armenian-Americans make up sizable voting blocs in California and
New Jersey, and Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois
is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will
consider Yovanovitch's nomination.
A 1980 graduate of Princeton who later earned a master's degree at
the National War College, Yovanovitch has been serving since the
summer of 2005 as the U.S. ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. She
previously served in Russia.
The United States last had a permanent representative in Armenia two
years ago. Evans said he was recalled from the post early after he
told audiences in Fresno, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area
that Armenians were the victims of genocide.
Evans said his characterization displeased Turkey and his State
Department superiors. Turkey maintains that the word "genocide"
mischaracterizes a complicated war in which many people died on
both sides.
"Armenian-Americans have attempted to extricate and isolate their
history from the complex circumstances in which their ancestors were
embroiled," the Turkish Embassy declared in a statement last year.
"In so doing, they describe a world populated only by white-hatted
heroes and black-hatted villains."
The unsettled question for Yovanovitch is whether she can avoid the
fate of Bush's last nominee, career diplomat Richard Hoagland.
Armenian-American activists and their Capitol Hill allies stymied
Hoagland's nomination. He repeatedly ducked the word "genocide"
during his June 2006 Senate confirmation hearing, opting instead for
words such as "tragedy" and "horrific."
by Michael Doyle Bee Washington Bureau
Fresno Bee
April 2, 2008 Wednesday
California
President Bush is trying again to fill a long-vacant ambassador's seat
to Armenia -- a posting that has become entangled in U.S. politics.
In a move that could either revive a Capitol Hill conflict or reveal
that passions have cooled, Bush has announced plans to nominate career
diplomat Marie L. Yovanovitch as the ambassador to Armenia.
If she is confirmed, she will replace the previous ambassador, John
Evans, who was recalled in 2006 after he gave speeches in California
endorsing claims of an Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman
Empire.
Those claims inflame sentiment in Turkey.
Last fall, Turkish officials protested bitterly after the House Foreign
Affairs Committee approved a resolution that condemned the killings of
Armenians from 1915 to 1923 as genocide. Democrats withdrew support for
the resolution after President Bush called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
to ask that it not be considered by the full House of Representatives.
The collapse of the House resolution means that the Yovanovitch
nomination may become this year's highest-profile issue for
Armenian-Americans who have championed the genocide issue for decades.
It also could become mired in the U.S. presidential campaign.
Armenian-Americans make up sizable voting blocs in California and
New Jersey, and Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois
is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will
consider Yovanovitch's nomination.
A 1980 graduate of Princeton who later earned a master's degree at
the National War College, Yovanovitch has been serving since the
summer of 2005 as the U.S. ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. She
previously served in Russia.
The United States last had a permanent representative in Armenia two
years ago. Evans said he was recalled from the post early after he
told audiences in Fresno, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area
that Armenians were the victims of genocide.
Evans said his characterization displeased Turkey and his State
Department superiors. Turkey maintains that the word "genocide"
mischaracterizes a complicated war in which many people died on
both sides.
"Armenian-Americans have attempted to extricate and isolate their
history from the complex circumstances in which their ancestors were
embroiled," the Turkish Embassy declared in a statement last year.
"In so doing, they describe a world populated only by white-hatted
heroes and black-hatted villains."
The unsettled question for Yovanovitch is whether she can avoid the
fate of Bush's last nominee, career diplomat Richard Hoagland.
Armenian-American activists and their Capitol Hill allies stymied
Hoagland's nomination. He repeatedly ducked the word "genocide"
during his June 2006 Senate confirmation hearing, opting instead for
words such as "tragedy" and "horrific."