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Senate Confirmation Hearings for U.S. Ambassador-Designates to Armenia and Azerbaijan

Politics
10.04.14-7738ԱՄՆ-սենատ

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held confirmation hearings on September 18 for U.S. Ambassador-designates Robert Cekuta of New York to Azerbaijan and Richard Mills of Texas to Armenia, Civilnet.am reports. Some of the key issues discussed during the hearing included talks about strengthening Azerbaijan’s rule of law, the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, the United States’ disappointment in Armenia for voting against Ukraine’s territorial integrity at the U.N. General Assembly, and the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. According to the Armenian National Committee of Armenia (ANCA), Ambassador-designate Mills, in his testimony, was unable to successfully characterize the mass murders of 1915 as a genocide.  He did, however, assert that the  ”the United States and the world will stand in solidarity with the Armenian people next year to mark the centenary of one of the 20th century’s worst atrocities.” “Today’s testimony represented a missed opportunity – on the eve of the 2015 centennial – for the Obama Administration to finally reject Ankara’s shameful gag-rule prohibiting American officials from speaking honestly about the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. The last ambassador to stand in support of U.S recognition of the Armenian Genocide was Ambassador John Evans in 2006. Details are available here