On July 26, the U.S. Justice Department gave some interesting information about U.S. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, in particular the recording of the U.S. State Department-Turkey negotiations regarding calling back the U.S. Ambassador before the end of his term.
According to the Armenian National Committee of America, the U.S. State Department and the Turkish government have left the Senate committee on foreign issues in a daze.
“Each time we see the U.S. President’s administration on Turkey’s side. The latest information served as a firm basis for not confirming the candidacy of the new ambassador,” said head of the ANCA Ken Khachikyan.
U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans was in Yerevan during the hearings for appointing Richard Hoagland as the new ambassador on June 23. Senator Baiden wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleza Rice.
“Did the U.S. State Department have any contact with the Turkish government regarding the appointing of Richard Hoagland, be it letters, e-mail or oral?”
The State Department’s assistant on legal issues Jeffrey Bergner replied that the announcements about the Turkish government pressuring the U.S. on this issue are inaccurate.
“The U.S. and Turkey haven’t signed any legal documents regarding that,” as stated in the message by the ANCA.
The press release states the fact that the Turkish agent had contacted the U.S. State Department when Evans was speaking about the Armenian Genocide during his speech in San Francisco on February 24, 2005.
On February 28, 2005, almost a week after his call to the State Department, Ambassador Evans declared that that was his opinion during a private conversation. Later, according to PanArmenian.net, the Livingston faction of the U.S. Congress, which is on Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s side, announced that the Turkish agent had made three phone calls to one of the Turkish embassy official representatives in Ankara. Evans declared that he had decided to change his wording on March 1, 2006.