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US Ambassador to Armenia nominee John Heffern doesnâ€™t pronounce â€œgenocideâ€

14 July 2011 09:39 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports quoting the website of Armenian National Committee of America that John Heffern was aggressively questioned by pro-Armenian senators in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A group of senators led by Senator Robert Menendez underlined that the refusal to properly characterize the 1915 incidents as â€œgenocideâ€ harms both U.S. interests and America’s moral standing. Senator Menendez said that it is very hard for American diplomat, who has not recognized the â€œgenocideâ€, to work in Armenia.
But during the hearings Heffern has not pronounced the word â€œgenocideâ€ and satisfied with characterization of 1915 incidents as killing.
â€œThe characterization of those events is a policy decision that is made by the President of the United States and that policy is enunciated in his April 24 Remembrance Day statementâ€.

The hearings will continue within the next few days.

â€œThe Washington Timesâ€ newspaper wrote that the American Armenians suss Heffern. The article entitled â€œArmenians want answerâ€ says that the reason of the suspicions is his work for a man described as "consistently one of the most pro-Turkish and anti-Armenian representatives to serve in Congress.