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NEW US ENVOY TO TURKEY FACES TOUGH CONFIRMATION PROCESS
Hurriyet Daily News
July 19 2010
Turkey
Frank Ricciardone, United States President Barack Obama's pick as the
new ambassador to Ankara, will appear at a confirmation hearing at the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday to be grilled by several
senators on a number of aspects of the U.S.-Turkish relationship.
"Ambassador Ricciardone's confirmation process provides members of
the Foreign Relations Committee a rare and vital opportunity at a
pivotal moment in U.S.-Turkey relations to really explore whether the
administration's seemingly endless willingness to defer to Turkey
- on human rights, regional security, and genocide denial - truly
serves U.S. interests and American values," said Aram Hamparian,
executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America,
or ANCA, in a weekend statement.
ANCA is the largest and most influential U.S. Armenian group seeking
formal U.S. recognition of supposed World War I-era killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."
ANCA also said it has encouraged "activists to contact their senators
and urge close scrutiny of U.S. policy toward Turkey and the region."
ANCA's statement fell short of calling on the senators to reject
Ricciardone, but analysts suggest that the fate of his nomination
may depend on the nature of his remarks Tuesday.
Under U.S. law, all senior administration officials, including
ambassadors, need to be endorsed by the Senate. But even only a single
senator has the right to defer the confirmation process of a senior
administration official indefinitely.
Such rejections are rare, but happen from time to time. For example
in 2007, pro-Armenian Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez put a hold on the
nomination of Richard Hoagland as ambassador to Armenia, accusing him
of denying the "Armenian genocide." Menendez eventually succeeded in
preventing Hoagland from becoming the U.S. ambassador to Yerevan.
Long Foreign Service career
On July 1 Obama formally nominated Ricciardone, currently U.S. deputy
ambassador to the Afghan capital of Kabul, as his country's new
ambassador to Ankara.
Ricciardone, a career member of the Foreign Service, has served as
U.S. ambassador to Egypt and the Philippines, and has had two tours
of duty in Turkey, most recently, between 1995 and 1999, as deputy
chief of mission. He speaks Turkish fluently.
His nomination needs to be confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and later by the full Senate. If approved, Ricciardone
would replace the current ambassador to Ankara, Jim Jeffrey. Jeffrey's
confirmation hearing to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq
will also be held at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.
Some neo-conservative statesmen and analysts oppose Ricciardone's
nomination for Ankara, citing objections about his earlier performance
as ambassador to Cairo. For example, Elliott Abrams, a key former
National Security Council member during ex-president George W. Bush's
presidency, said Ricciardone had failed to support a major democracy
effort made by the U.S. administration in Egypt.
"Especially in 2005 and 2006, Secretary [of State Condoleezza]
Rice and the Bush administration significantly increased American
pressure for greater respect for human rights and progress toward
democracy in Egypt. This of course meant pushing the [Hosni] Mubarak
regime, arguing with it in private, and sometimes criticizing it in
public. In all of this, we in Washington found ambassador Ricciardone
to be without enthusiasm or energy," Abrams told The Cable, the blog
of the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy.
"Now is not the time for us to have an ambassador in Ankara who is
more interested in serving the interests of the local autocrats and
less interested in serving the interests of his own administration,"
Danielle Pletka, vice president of the American Enterprise Institute,
a neo-conservative think tank in Washington, told the Cable.
It is not clear yet if some Republican senators would object to
Ricciardone's nomination.
Tuesday's hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will
be chaired by Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic Party's
presidential candidate in the 2004 election.
Ricciardone's nomination comes at a time of heightened tensions
between Turkey and the United States. Washington has been dismayed
by the June opposition of Turkey, a non-permanent member of the U.N.
Security Council, to fresh sanctions on Iran because of the Islamic
Republic's controversial nuclear program. The United States is also
annoyed by worsening relations between Turkey and Israel.
From: A. Papazian
Hurriyet Daily News
July 19 2010
Turkey
Frank Ricciardone, United States President Barack Obama's pick as the
new ambassador to Ankara, will appear at a confirmation hearing at the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday to be grilled by several
senators on a number of aspects of the U.S.-Turkish relationship.
"Ambassador Ricciardone's confirmation process provides members of
the Foreign Relations Committee a rare and vital opportunity at a
pivotal moment in U.S.-Turkey relations to really explore whether the
administration's seemingly endless willingness to defer to Turkey
- on human rights, regional security, and genocide denial - truly
serves U.S. interests and American values," said Aram Hamparian,
executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America,
or ANCA, in a weekend statement.
ANCA is the largest and most influential U.S. Armenian group seeking
formal U.S. recognition of supposed World War I-era killings of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide."
ANCA also said it has encouraged "activists to contact their senators
and urge close scrutiny of U.S. policy toward Turkey and the region."
ANCA's statement fell short of calling on the senators to reject
Ricciardone, but analysts suggest that the fate of his nomination
may depend on the nature of his remarks Tuesday.
Under U.S. law, all senior administration officials, including
ambassadors, need to be endorsed by the Senate. But even only a single
senator has the right to defer the confirmation process of a senior
administration official indefinitely.
Such rejections are rare, but happen from time to time. For example
in 2007, pro-Armenian Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez put a hold on the
nomination of Richard Hoagland as ambassador to Armenia, accusing him
of denying the "Armenian genocide." Menendez eventually succeeded in
preventing Hoagland from becoming the U.S. ambassador to Yerevan.
Long Foreign Service career
On July 1 Obama formally nominated Ricciardone, currently U.S. deputy
ambassador to the Afghan capital of Kabul, as his country's new
ambassador to Ankara.
Ricciardone, a career member of the Foreign Service, has served as
U.S. ambassador to Egypt and the Philippines, and has had two tours
of duty in Turkey, most recently, between 1995 and 1999, as deputy
chief of mission. He speaks Turkish fluently.
His nomination needs to be confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and later by the full Senate. If approved, Ricciardone
would replace the current ambassador to Ankara, Jim Jeffrey. Jeffrey's
confirmation hearing to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq
will also be held at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.
Some neo-conservative statesmen and analysts oppose Ricciardone's
nomination for Ankara, citing objections about his earlier performance
as ambassador to Cairo. For example, Elliott Abrams, a key former
National Security Council member during ex-president George W. Bush's
presidency, said Ricciardone had failed to support a major democracy
effort made by the U.S. administration in Egypt.
"Especially in 2005 and 2006, Secretary [of State Condoleezza]
Rice and the Bush administration significantly increased American
pressure for greater respect for human rights and progress toward
democracy in Egypt. This of course meant pushing the [Hosni] Mubarak
regime, arguing with it in private, and sometimes criticizing it in
public. In all of this, we in Washington found ambassador Ricciardone
to be without enthusiasm or energy," Abrams told The Cable, the blog
of the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy.
"Now is not the time for us to have an ambassador in Ankara who is
more interested in serving the interests of the local autocrats and
less interested in serving the interests of his own administration,"
Danielle Pletka, vice president of the American Enterprise Institute,
a neo-conservative think tank in Washington, told the Cable.
It is not clear yet if some Republican senators would object to
Ricciardone's nomination.
Tuesday's hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will
be chaired by Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic Party's
presidential candidate in the 2004 election.
Ricciardone's nomination comes at a time of heightened tensions
between Turkey and the United States. Washington has been dismayed
by the June opposition of Turkey, a non-permanent member of the U.N.
Security Council, to fresh sanctions on Iran because of the Islamic
Republic's controversial nuclear program. The United States is also
annoyed by worsening relations between Turkey and Israel.
From: A. Papazian