REGARDING STATEMENTS MADE BY ANCA
Support A1+!The Embassy noted with deep disappointment the statement made in Yerevan on March 13 by ANCA Exec Director Aram Hambarian. His remarks were a willful distortion of reality and have no place in any serious discussion about policy differences. Mr. Hambarian's comments are particularly out of place in Yerevan, where the Government of Armenia has already signaled its readiness to work with Ambassador Hoagland.
Neither Ambassador Hoagland nor the Administration has ever denied the mass murders and forced exile of over 1.5 million Armenians that occurred in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 28, 2006, Ambassador Hoagland specifically said, on the record, “No one in the Administration has ever denied the events.” He has read broadly the history of the period. However, the Administration, and therefore Ambassador-designate Hoagland, does not use the word “genocide” to describe these events.
