Armenian Americans responded to the Senate hearings during which President Obama’s nominee John Heffern to serve as Ambassador to Armenia faced a series of questions on a range of issues related to Armenia.

John Heffern also faced the questions of Senator Robert Menendez regarding the Armenian Genocide but refused to reference as genocide the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

“It is an inartful dance that we do. We have a State Department whose history full of dispatches cites the atrocities committed during this period of time. We have a Convention from which we signed on to as a signatory that clearly defines these acts as genocide.  We have a historical knowledge of the facts which we accept that would amount to genocide, but we are unwilling to reference it as genocide.  And if we cannot accept the past we cannot move forward, and so I find it very difficult to be sending diplomats of the United States to a country in which they will go, and I hope you will go, as some of your predecessors have, to a Genocide commemoration and yet never be able to use the word genocide,” said Senator.

The Armenian Assembly of America welcomed the continued efforts of Senator Menendez to ensure that the facts of the Armenian Genocide are brought to the forefront and not denied. 

“We concur with the Senator that the Administration’s current policy is untenable. The Assembly strongly believes that America’s long-term interests would be better served by speaking the truth and squarely affirming the Armenian Genocide,” said Armenian Assembly Executive Director Bryan Ardouny.