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ANCA: SENATOR MENENDEZ CALLS FOR DELAY IN CONSIDERATION OF U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA NOMINEE JOHN HEFFERN
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
27.07.2011
(Noyan Tapan - 27.07.2011) WASHINGTON, DC - The Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, at the request of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
today deferred consideration of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee
John Heffern until its next business meeting, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).
The panel's Chairman, John Kerry (D-MA), announced at today's business
meeting that the Heffern nomination had been "carried over," a move
typically used by Senators to allow additional time to review a
nominee's credentials and testimony.
"We would like to thank Senator Menendez for affording his colleagues
greater time to scrutinize and make an informed determination,"
stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "As a matter of policy,
we remain deeply troubled that the Administration's complicity in
Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide so manifestly fails to meet
the clear-cut moral standard set by President Obama during his tenure
on this very Senate panel. The painful spectacle of watching a senior
U.S. diplomat forced to dance and dodge around the plain truth -
in the service of a patently immoral policy imposed upon America by
a foreign government - undermines U.S. interests, and compromises
American values."
During Mr. Heffern's July 13th confirmation hearing, Sen. Menendez
pressed him regarding the Obama Administration position regarding the
Armenian Genocide, and also about his own understanding of this crime.
The nominee cited the killing of over 1.5 million Armenians at the
end of the Ottoman Empire, but stopped short of properly referencing
these acts as "genocide," arguing that "the characterization of
those events is a policy decision that is made by the President of
the United States. He added that this policy is enunciated in the
President's April 24Remembrance Day statement."
Senator Menendez remarked, "This is an inartful dance that we do. We
have a State Department whose history is full of dispatches that cite
the atrocities committed during this time. We have a convention that
we signed on to as a signatory that clearly defines these acts as
genocide. We have a historical knowledge of the facts that we accept
would amount to genocide. But we are unwilling to reference it as
genocide. And if we cannot accept the past, we cannot move forward.
And so I find it very difficult to send diplomats of the United States
to a country in which they will go - and I hope you will go, as some
of your predecessors have - to a genocide commemoration and yet never
be able to use the word genocide. It is much more than a question
of a word. It is everything that signifies our commitment to saying
'never again.' And yet, we can't even acknowledge this fact and we
put diplomats in a position that is totally untenable."
Sen. Menendez was echoing a 2008 statement by then Senator Barack
Obama, who, in questioning U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Marie
Yovanovitch, expressed concern about the Bush Administration's position
on the issue. Then Senator Obama stated:
"Nearly 2 million Armenians were deported during the Armenian Genocide,
which was carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923,
and approximately 1.5 million of those deported were killed. It is
imperative that we recognize the horrific acts carried out against the
Armenian people as genocide. The occurrence of the Armenian genocide
is a widely documented fact, supported by an overwhelming collection
of historical evidence. I was deeply disturbed two years ago when the
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia was fired after he used the term 'genocide'
to describe the mass slaughter of Armenians. I called for Secretary
Rice to examine what I believe is an untenable position taken by the
U.S. government."
The complete questions submitted by Senator Obama and responses from
Ambassadorial nominee Marie Yovanovitch in 2008 are posted on the
ANCA website:
http://www.anca.org/assets/pdf/misc/062408_ambnomination/ObamaYovanovitch_Responses.pdf
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Senator Menendez in submitting
written questions to Mr. Heffern following his confirmation hearing.
From: Baghdasarian
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
27.07.2011
(Noyan Tapan - 27.07.2011) WASHINGTON, DC - The Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, at the request of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
today deferred consideration of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee
John Heffern until its next business meeting, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA).
The panel's Chairman, John Kerry (D-MA), announced at today's business
meeting that the Heffern nomination had been "carried over," a move
typically used by Senators to allow additional time to review a
nominee's credentials and testimony.
"We would like to thank Senator Menendez for affording his colleagues
greater time to scrutinize and make an informed determination,"
stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "As a matter of policy,
we remain deeply troubled that the Administration's complicity in
Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide so manifestly fails to meet
the clear-cut moral standard set by President Obama during his tenure
on this very Senate panel. The painful spectacle of watching a senior
U.S. diplomat forced to dance and dodge around the plain truth -
in the service of a patently immoral policy imposed upon America by
a foreign government - undermines U.S. interests, and compromises
American values."
During Mr. Heffern's July 13th confirmation hearing, Sen. Menendez
pressed him regarding the Obama Administration position regarding the
Armenian Genocide, and also about his own understanding of this crime.
The nominee cited the killing of over 1.5 million Armenians at the
end of the Ottoman Empire, but stopped short of properly referencing
these acts as "genocide," arguing that "the characterization of
those events is a policy decision that is made by the President of
the United States. He added that this policy is enunciated in the
President's April 24Remembrance Day statement."
Senator Menendez remarked, "This is an inartful dance that we do. We
have a State Department whose history is full of dispatches that cite
the atrocities committed during this time. We have a convention that
we signed on to as a signatory that clearly defines these acts as
genocide. We have a historical knowledge of the facts that we accept
would amount to genocide. But we are unwilling to reference it as
genocide. And if we cannot accept the past, we cannot move forward.
And so I find it very difficult to send diplomats of the United States
to a country in which they will go - and I hope you will go, as some
of your predecessors have - to a genocide commemoration and yet never
be able to use the word genocide. It is much more than a question
of a word. It is everything that signifies our commitment to saying
'never again.' And yet, we can't even acknowledge this fact and we
put diplomats in a position that is totally untenable."
Sen. Menendez was echoing a 2008 statement by then Senator Barack
Obama, who, in questioning U.S. Ambassador to Armenia nominee Marie
Yovanovitch, expressed concern about the Bush Administration's position
on the issue. Then Senator Obama stated:
"Nearly 2 million Armenians were deported during the Armenian Genocide,
which was carried out by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923,
and approximately 1.5 million of those deported were killed. It is
imperative that we recognize the horrific acts carried out against the
Armenian people as genocide. The occurrence of the Armenian genocide
is a widely documented fact, supported by an overwhelming collection
of historical evidence. I was deeply disturbed two years ago when the
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia was fired after he used the term 'genocide'
to describe the mass slaughter of Armenians. I called for Secretary
Rice to examine what I believe is an untenable position taken by the
U.S. government."
The complete questions submitted by Senator Obama and responses from
Ambassadorial nominee Marie Yovanovitch in 2008 are posted on the
ANCA website:
http://www.anca.org/assets/pdf/misc/062408_ambnomination/ObamaYovanovitch_Responses.pdf
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Senator Menendez in submitting
written questions to Mr. Heffern following his confirmation hearing.
From: Baghdasarian