Why this Administration is not working for the Armenian community- ANCA

I apologize if it seems as though most of my latest posts are straight out of the ANCA Newsletters but I do believe that they include important information that needs to be put out there. More coverage can be found on the ANCA website.

The need for change: The Bush Administration’s record
The pressing need for fundamental change in how the United States addresses issues of special concern to Armenian Americans is highlighted by a review of the current Administration’s record in twelve key areas:

1) Broken campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide
Almost immediately after taking office, President Bush abandoned his campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Rather than honor this promise, the President has, in his annual April 24th statements, used evasive and euphemistic terminology to avoid describing Ottoman Turkey's systematic and deliberate destruction of the Armenian people by its proper name - the Armenian Genocide. Moreover, the Administration has echoed the Turkish government’s denial by claiming that the Armenian Genocide, one of the most studied genocides of the 20th century, “should be a matter of historical inquiry, not legislation.” On October 17, 2007, after the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the Armenian Genocide Resolution, President Bush argued that, “one thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire,” claiming there was “more important work to do.”

2) Opposition to the Congressional Genocide Resolution
The Bush Administration, throughout its tenure, has actively sought to block the adoption of the Genocide Resolution in both the House and Senate. As recently as October of last year, the President spoke to the national media from the White House, on more than one occasion, against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and personally lobbied Members of Congress to prevent the commemoration of this crime.

3) The Evans firing and the Hoagland nominations
The Bush Administration fired U.S. Ambassador John Evans, a career Foreign Service officer with 35 years of experience, simply for speaking truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. Despite numerous Congressional inquiries, his Administration continuously attempted to cover up the true reasons for Evans’ removal and the Turkish government’s protests over his statements. When the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) awarded John Evans the Christian Herter prize for constructive dissent, Administration officials forced AFSA to rescind the award just days before Turkish President Erdogan came to Washington, DC to meet with President Bush.
The President’s nominee to replace Ambassador Evans, Dick Hoagland, denied the Armenian Genocide in response to Senate inquiries during his confirmation process. After being blocked by a Senatorial “hold” placed by Robert Menendez in the 109th Congress, the President again nominated Ambassador Hoagland, only to have this nomination blocked once again on the grounds that a diplomat who denies the Armenian Genocide cannot serve effectively as the U.S. representative to Armenia.

4) The Waiver of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act
The Bush Administration, in 2001, aggressively pressured Congress into granting the President the authority to waive Section 907, a provision of law that bars aid to the government of Azerbaijan until it lifts its blockades of Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh. President Bush has subsequently used this authority to provide direct aid, including military assistance, to the government of Azerbaijan, despite their continued violation of the provisions of this law.

5) Reduction in aid to Armenia
In the face of the devastating, multi-billion dollar impact of the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades on the Armenian economy, President Bush has, in each of his years in office, proposed to Congress that Freedom Support Act humanitarian and developmental aid to Armenia be reduced.

6) Abandonment of the Military Aid Parity Agreement
The Bush Administration abandoned its November 2001 agreement with Congress and the Armenian American community to maintain even levels of military aid to Armenia and Azerbaijan. In successive budgets submitted to Congress, the President effectively sought to tilt the regional military balance in favor of Azerbaijan, undermining the role of the U.S. as an impartial mediator, despite Azerbaijan's increasingly violent threats of renewed aggression.

7) Mistaken Listing of Armenia as a Terrorist Country
The Bush Administration sought, unsuccessfully, in December of 2002 to place Armenia on an Immigration and Naturalization Service watch list for terrorist countries. This obvious error was reversed only after a nation-wide protest campaign. Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice has apologized for the offense caused by this mistake.

8) Lack of U.S.-Armenia Presidential visitations
The President neither visited Armenia nor did he invite the President of Armenia to visit the United States, despite similar visits by the leaders of Georgia and Azerbaijan.

9) Failure to maintain a balanced policy on Nagorno Karabagh
The Bush Administration, to its credit, took an early initiative to help resolve the Nagorno Karabagh issue in the form of the Key West summit meeting in 2001 between Secretary of State Powell and the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After Azerbaijan's failure to honor its Key West commitments, however, the Administration failed to hold Azerbaijan accountable for unilaterally stalling the Nagorno Karabagh peace process.

10) Taxpayer financing of the Baku-Ceyhan bypass of Armenia
The Bush Administration supported American taxpayer subsidies for the politically motivated Baku-Ceyhan pipeline route that, at the insistence of Turkey and Azerbaijan, bypassed Armenia.

11) Refusal to pressure Turkey and Azerbaijan to end their blockades
The Bush Administration has not forcefully condemned the Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades as clear violations of international law, nor, outside of occasional public statements, has it taken any meaningful steps to pressure the Turkish or Azerbaijani governments to end their illegal border closures.

12) Neglect of relations with the Armenian American community
Breaking with the tradition of the last several Administrations, the Bush White House failed to reach out in any meaningful way to our nation's one and a half million citizens of Armenian heritage. While the State Department, Pentagon and National Security Council maintained their long-standing, policy-level dialogue with the Armenian American community leadership, the White House itself essentially neglected Armenian Americans as a civic constituency.