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Open Letter to Ms. Perri Green,
Special Coordinator for Awards and Outreach,
American Foreign Service Association,
2101 E Street NW, Washington DC
Dear Ms. Green,
I noticed in a recent announcement that AFSA is having trouble coming
up with nominations for its annual dissent awards this year. Maybe I
can help you out.
In 2005 the American Foreign Service Association nominating committee
decided to award me the Christian Herter Award for Constructive
Dissent by a Senior Officer. I was at that time serving as US
Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia. The reason for the nomination
was that, in the course of a speaking trip to NY, Boston and
California, I had departed from accepted US diplomatic practice and
used the term "genocide" to describe the slaughter of one and a half
million Armenians in the years 1915-18. The scholarship was clear,
and I was reflecting it. I did not use the "g-word" as a cheap
throwaway line; I explained to my audiences the reasons the USG so
valued its alliance relations with Turkey that it refrained from using
the term out of deference to that country's continuing policy of
denial. I did not claim, falsely, that U.S. policy had changed. I
knew full well that I would be punished. It was not a lapsus linguae,
nor did I make any attempt to conceal what I had said publicly from
the State Department. At the same time, I did not discuss the matter
while en poste in Armenia, only in the United States, for this is an
American issue.
What happened next was that I was called back from Yerevan and asked
if I had accepted the AFSA award. I replied that I had "not refused
it," which was exactly the case. I was told that I had better figure
out a way not to be given the award. So I called AFSA and explained
the situation. AFSA came up with the technicality that I had not
first resorted to the Dissent Channel, a Vietnam-era safety valve.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, a sitting senator, a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, wrote as follows to Secretary Rice:
"I believe that the controversy over Ambassador Evans' use of the term
'genocide' underscores the fact that the current U.S. position is
untenable. That the invocation of a historical fact by a State
Department employee could constitute an act of insubordination is
deeply troubling. When State Department instructions are such that an
ambassador must engage in strained reasoning -- or even an outright
falsehood -- that defies a common sense interpretation of events in
order to follow orders, then it is time to revisit the State
Department's policy guidance on that issue. The occurrence of the
Armenian Genocide in 1915 is not an 'allegation,' a 'personal
opinion,' or a point of view.' Supported by an overwhelming amount of
historical evidence, it is a widely documented fact."
The senator was Barack Obama. Yes, that Barack Obama.
In 1951, before Turkey joined NATO, the United States, in a written
filing to the ICJ in The Hague, stated that "The practice of genocide
has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the
Christians, the Turkish massacres of the Armenians, the extermination
of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of
the crime of genocide."
So now I am retired. There is no longer any reason for AFSA to
withhold the Herter Award, which, may I remind, was done at my request
(thank you). All the more so given that April 24, 2015 will mark the
100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide on the night
in 1915 when over two hundred intellectuals, priests and other
Armenian leaders were arrested in Constantinople. If you have any
doubts about the facts of the matter, may I suggest consulting with UN
Ambassador Samantha Power, author of "A Problem from Hell: America and
the Age of Genocide." The first chapter of her prize-winning book
deals with the Armenian Genocide.
I withdraw my objection to receiving the award. So what do you say,
AFSA?
I am also open to receiving the Herter Award posthumously, as did
Hiram Bingham IV, who disobeyed his instructions in order to grant
visas to Jews in Vichy France. Just not too soon, please, in my case!
With best regards,
John Marshall Evans
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia 2004-2006
Retired Career Foreign Service
Special Coordinator for Awards and Outreach,
American Foreign Service Association,
2101 E Street NW, Washington DC
Dear Ms. Green,
I noticed in a recent announcement that AFSA is having trouble coming
up with nominations for its annual dissent awards this year. Maybe I
can help you out.
In 2005 the American Foreign Service Association nominating committee
decided to award me the Christian Herter Award for Constructive
Dissent by a Senior Officer. I was at that time serving as US
Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia. The reason for the nomination
was that, in the course of a speaking trip to NY, Boston and
California, I had departed from accepted US diplomatic practice and
used the term "genocide" to describe the slaughter of one and a half
million Armenians in the years 1915-18. The scholarship was clear,
and I was reflecting it. I did not use the "g-word" as a cheap
throwaway line; I explained to my audiences the reasons the USG so
valued its alliance relations with Turkey that it refrained from using
the term out of deference to that country's continuing policy of
denial. I did not claim, falsely, that U.S. policy had changed. I
knew full well that I would be punished. It was not a lapsus linguae,
nor did I make any attempt to conceal what I had said publicly from
the State Department. At the same time, I did not discuss the matter
while en poste in Armenia, only in the United States, for this is an
American issue.
What happened next was that I was called back from Yerevan and asked
if I had accepted the AFSA award. I replied that I had "not refused
it," which was exactly the case. I was told that I had better figure
out a way not to be given the award. So I called AFSA and explained
the situation. AFSA came up with the technicality that I had not
first resorted to the Dissent Channel, a Vietnam-era safety valve.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, a sitting senator, a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, wrote as follows to Secretary Rice:
"I believe that the controversy over Ambassador Evans' use of the term
'genocide' underscores the fact that the current U.S. position is
untenable. That the invocation of a historical fact by a State
Department employee could constitute an act of insubordination is
deeply troubling. When State Department instructions are such that an
ambassador must engage in strained reasoning -- or even an outright
falsehood -- that defies a common sense interpretation of events in
order to follow orders, then it is time to revisit the State
Department's policy guidance on that issue. The occurrence of the
Armenian Genocide in 1915 is not an 'allegation,' a 'personal
opinion,' or a point of view.' Supported by an overwhelming amount of
historical evidence, it is a widely documented fact."
The senator was Barack Obama. Yes, that Barack Obama.
In 1951, before Turkey joined NATO, the United States, in a written
filing to the ICJ in The Hague, stated that "The practice of genocide
has occurred throughout human history. The Roman persecution of the
Christians, the Turkish massacres of the Armenians, the extermination
of millions of Jews and Poles by the Nazis are outstanding examples of
the crime of genocide."
So now I am retired. There is no longer any reason for AFSA to
withhold the Herter Award, which, may I remind, was done at my request
(thank you). All the more so given that April 24, 2015 will mark the
100th anniversary of the start of the Armenian Genocide on the night
in 1915 when over two hundred intellectuals, priests and other
Armenian leaders were arrested in Constantinople. If you have any
doubts about the facts of the matter, may I suggest consulting with UN
Ambassador Samantha Power, author of "A Problem from Hell: America and
the Age of Genocide." The first chapter of her prize-winning book
deals with the Armenian Genocide.
I withdraw my objection to receiving the award. So what do you say,
AFSA?
I am also open to receiving the Herter Award posthumously, as did
Hiram Bingham IV, who disobeyed his instructions in order to grant
visas to Jews in Vichy France. Just not too soon, please, in my case!
With best regards,
John Marshall Evans
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia 2004-2006
Retired Career Foreign Service