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ANCA: Sen. Biden Delays Foreign Relations Comm. Vote on Hoagland

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  • ANCA: Sen. Biden Delays Foreign Relations Comm. Vote on Hoagland

    Armenian National Committee of America
    1711 N Street NW
    Washington, DC 20036
    Tel: (202) 775-1918
    Fax: (202) 775-5648
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Internet: www.anca.org

    PRESS RELEASE
    August 1, 2006
    Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
    Tel: (202) 775-1918

    SEN. BIDEN DELAYS SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS
    COMMITTEE VOTE ON HOAGLAND NOMINATION

    -- Sen. Kerry Joins in Calling for Delay Until After August Recess

    -- Senator Allen Supports Call for Delay

    WASHINGTON, DC - Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), the Ranking Democrat
    on the Foreign Relations Committee, was joined today by Senator
    John Kerry (D-MA) in forcing a month-long delay in the Committee's
    vote on the controversial nomination of Richard Hoagland to replace
    the current U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, reported the
    Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

    The controversy within the Foreign Relations Committee over the
    Hoagland nomination began with Senator Biden's June 23rd letter
    asking Secretary of State Rice Condoleezza Rice to respond to a
    series of questions, including specific inquiries about reports
    that the current Ambassador had been recalled due to his having
    "accurately described the Armenian Genocide as genocide." The
    debate over the merits of the nomination heated up during the June
    28th confirmation hearing due to the nominee's evasive and
    unresponsive answers to straightforward questions posed by panel
    members about U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide. Following the
    hearing, Ambassador-designate Hoagland, in a sharp departure from
    established Administration practice, responded to a written Senate
    inquiry by questioning the genocidal intent of the perpetrators of
    the Armenian Genocide, a denial tactic frequently used by the
    Turkish government.

    As a result of the intervention of Senators Biden and Kerry,
    Ambassador-designate Hoagland's nomination will not be considered
    by the Committee until the Committee's next business meeting in
    September.

    "The ANCA welcomes the leadership of Senators Biden and Kerry in
    ensuring that the Foreign Relations Committee has the time to more
    carefully consider the implications - for both our foreign policy
    and our values as a nation - of confirming a U.S. Ambassador to
    Armenia who is on record denying the Armenian Genocide," said ANCA
    Chairman Ken Hachikian. "We appreciate, as well, the principled
    efforts of Senators Allen, Boxer, Chafee, Coleman, Dodd, Feingold,
    Kennedy, Reed, Sarbanes, and others to seek an honest explanation
    of the firing of Ambassador Evans, to explore the role of the
    Turkish government in his recall, and to insist that the
    Administration clearly articulate its stand on the recognition of
    the Armenian Genocide."

    The panel's decision comes in the wake of a nationwide campaign by
    the ANCA - in Washington, DC and in grassroots communities across
    the country - to demand answers concerning the recall of Amb. Evans
    and to educate Senators about the adverse impact of sending an
    envoy to Armenia that has called into question the genocidal
    character of Ottoman Turkey's systematic destruction of its
    Armenian population. The ANCA has mobilized thousands of activists
    to share their views with their Senators and Representatives about
    the need for an honest explanation of Ambassador Evans' recall and,
    more broadly, the exact outlines of the State Department's policy
    on the Armenian Genocide.

    As early as this February, Members of Congress, at the urging of
    the ANCA, began pressing the State Department for a full, open, and
    official explanation of the firing of the current U.S. Ambassador
    to Armenia, over his truthful comment last year on the Armenian
    Genocide. Despite a series of Congressional letters and questions
    posed during Congressional testimony by Secretary of State Rice and
    other senior officials, the Administration failed to provide a
    meaningful explanation of its decision to recall Ambassador Evans.

    In the shadow of this controversy, Ambassador-designate Hoagland
    came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 28th for
    a confirmation hearing, alongside the President's nominees to
    represent the U.S. in Ireland and Switzerland. During this
    hearing, Senators George Allen (R-VA) and Norm Coleman (R-MN)
    pressed Ambassador-designate Hoagland for answers about U.S. policy
    on the Armenian Genocide. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) expressed
    serious reservations concerning the circumstances of the nomination
    and the Administration's policy on the Armenian Genocide.

    Ambassador-designate Hoagland's responses during the hearing, and
    later to written questions submitted by panel members, were largely
    evasive, characterized by repeated - often strained - efforts to
    avoid using the term genocide, even while refusing to acknowledge
    that he had been instructed not to use this term. The following
    day, on June 29th, the panel, and then the full Senate, voted to
    confirm nominees for the ambassadors to Ireland and Switzerland,
    but chose to not take any action on Hoagland's nomination.

    In the days that followed his confirmation hearing, Ambassador-
    designate Hoagland responded to several dozen written questions
    concerning U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide, the recall of
    Ambassador Evans, and the instructions he had received regarding
    how to address this matter if confirmed by the Senate. Among his
    written responses to a series of questions posed by Senator Barbara
    Boxer (D-CA), was a deeply troubling, morally objectionable and
    historically inaccurate indication that the Armenian Genocide did
    not meet the U.S. definition of genocide because of the absence of
    a "specific intent" on the part of the perpetrator. This denial of
    the Armenian Genocide - which went far beyond the bounds of the
    Administration's traditional policy - prompted the ANCA to announce
    its formal opposition to Richard Hoagland's nomination on July
    18th.

    For the official ANCA statement, visit:
    http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_re leases.php?prid - 6

    Soon after, the ANCA determined that, according to Department of
    Justice records, the State Department had misled the U.S. Senate
    about its communications with the Turkish government concerning the
    February 2005 public affirmation of the Armenian Genocide by
    Ambassador Evans. In a letter, dated June 28th, written on behalf
    of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Senator Biden, the State
    Department denied that the Turkish government had even approached
    the Administration on this issue. However, official Foreign Agent
    Registration Act filings by the Turkish government's registered
    foreign agent, the Livingston Group, document that, in the days
    following Ambassador Evans' February 19, 2005 remarks, one of
    Turkey's agents communicated on at least four different occasions
    with State Department officials concerning the envoy's statement
    and his subsequent retraction.

    To date, half of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including
    Senators George Allen (R-VA), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer
    (D-CA), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Christopher
    Dodd (D-CT), Russell Feingold (D-WI), John Kerry (D-MA) and Paul
    Sarbanes (D-MD), have contacted Secretary Rice or questioned
    Ambassador Designate Hoagland directly regarding the Armenian
    Genocide. Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Jack Reed (D-RI),
    along with over sixty members of the House have also expressed
    serious concerns to the State Department on this matter.

    For a comprehensive overview of documents regarding the firing of
    Ambassador Evans and the Hoagland controversy, visit:
    http://www.anca.org/hoagland_controversy.ph p
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