YEREVAN, 22.09.08. DE FACTO. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) has called on members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to closely scrutinize ten serious shortcomings in the Administration’s handling of the U.S. – Turkey relationship, during the September 24th confirmation hearing for James Jeffrey to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to Turkey.
In letters to panel Chairman Joe Biden (D-DE) and other key Committee members, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian outlined the Administration’s failings, and encouraged strict scrutiny of the nominee in order to “ensure accountability for past errors, as well as to apply the lessons learned from these setbacks in charting a more productive and principled course for U.S.-Turkey relations.”
Hachikian underscored that, “We are today, near the close of the Bush Administration’s eight years in office, at a meaningful milestone in our relationship with Turkey. This hearing provides an important opportunity both to look back over the challenges, the progress, and the setbacks of the past, as well as to look forward to approaches to develop our ties in ways that advance both our interests and our values in this vital region of the world.”
Among the main failings listed in the letter were its strident attacks on growing bipartisan movement toward U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide, including President Bush’s firing of Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, and the “sad public spectacle,” in October of 2007, of the Administration caving in to Turkey’s threats against Congressional recognition of this crime against humanity.