The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) regrets that Ambassador-designate Lynn Tracy used evasive language to avoid proper condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.
“We regret that Ambassador-designate Tracy, in her appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was so very painfully and publicly reduced to using euphemistic and evasive language to avoid proper condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. She is, sadly, yet another victim of the lack of will on the part of successive U.S. administrations to reject Ankara’s open and arrogantly enforced gag-rule forbidding proper American remembrance of this crime,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Suren Hamparian.
“The Trump Administration and I personally acknowledge the historical facts of what took place at the end of the Ottoman Empire – of the mass killings, the forced deportations and marches that ended 1.5 million lives and a lot of suffering. And I will, if confirmed, do everything in my power to acknowledge and respect the losses and the suffering and commit myself to participating in any remembrance activities,” responded Ms. Tracy to the first of a series of questions, this one posed by Senator Markey on U.S. policy dealing with the Armenian Genocide. Sen. Markey responded, “It’s time for us just to stand up and call it what it was. It helps us in the future to have credibility,” Tracy said during the hearings.
ANCA thanked Senators Menendez and Markey for their constructive lines of questioning.
“In the coming days, we look forward to the Committee learning more – through her written responses - about how she intends to strengthen Armenia’s aid-to-trade transition, materially elevate U.S.-Armenia political, economic, and military relations, and drive actual progress on key deliverables, starting with a long overdue U.S.-Armenia Double Tax Treaty”, ANCA said in a statement.
“While we certainly appreciate the spirit of Ambassador-designate Tracy’s support for ‘fighting corruption, strengthening civil society and supporting an independent media,’ the fact is that Armenia has already made remarkable progress on all three of these fronts, far outpacing neighboring Azerbaijan and leading much of the region and even the world in terms of democratic development. Our American priority now should be leveraging these changes, pivoting on Armenia’s progress to materially upgrade bilateral ties – through a Tax Treaty, Social Security Totalization Agreement, trade missions, export promotion, non-stop U.S.-to Armenia flights, and other mutually beneficial initiatives,” added Hamparian.
