YEREVAN. - Armenian National Committee of America Office Director Aram Hamparyan announced that they are against Francis Ricciardone being appointed as US Ambassador in Turkey.

“U.S. Ambassador Candidates in Armenia and Turkey, John Heffern and Francis Ricciardone, are different. Heffern answered, we saw that there were significant mistakes and there were things that he did not say, which he should say. But he did not cross the red line like Ricciardone,” said Hambaryan. “We were disappointed by Heffern’s answers, but we are against Ricciardone. Ricciardone is not aware of the situation in the region and is not an appropriate candidate to go to Ankara. He is not the appropriate person. We would like Obama to appoint someone else as the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey.”

During the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings Heffern avoided to qualify the murder of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey in 1915 as genocide, mentioning that it’s a political decision, which is made by Obama.