[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1149]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            OPPOSITION TO THE RENOMINATION OF ROBERT HOGLAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my concern this afternoon 
and my opposition, indeed, to the renomination of Robert Hogland by the 
Bush administration as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia. And I also want to 
take this opportunity to thank my colleague from New Jersey, Senator 
Menendez, for his continued opposition to the nomination.
  This makes no sense, Mr. Speaker. The Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee reviewed the nomination of Mr. Hogland, had hearings, asked 
extensive written questions as followup in the last session of 
Congress, and it was clear that Mr. Hogland's nomination could not pass 
the Senate. In fact, could not even pass the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee. It was essentially sent back to the administration at the 
end of the lame duck session. And I am, frankly, surprised that the 
President has renominated Mr. Hogland under the circumstances.
  The problem continues to be, on the one hand, that the administration 
has not offered any meaningful explanation of the reasons for firing 
the last U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Evans. We all know the reason 
why Mr. Evans was terminated. It is because he articulated the fact 
that the Armenia genocide occurred. Historically. The U.S. policy has 
been to, basically, announce and accept the fact that the tragic events 
of the Armenian genocide occurred. But when anyone within the 
administration actually calls it genocide, immediately they are seen as 
a bad actor, and consequences follow from that.
  And Ambassador Evans came to the United States. He was out in 
California. He was involved one afternoon or evening in a discussion 
about the tragic events that occurred between 1915 and afterwards, and 
he used the term ``genocide.'' It may sound like no big deal to anybody 
else, a historical fact that almost every government in the world 
recognizes, that the U.S. has historically acknowledged. But the very 
fact that he used that term incurred tremendous opposition from the 
Turkish Government. And from that day on, his days were numbered as the 
ambassador to Armenia, and eventually he was terminated and Mr. Hogland 
was nominated in his place.
  Now, last session, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considered 
Mr. Hogland's nomination. Mr. Hogland failed to adequately respond to 
the questions asked by the Senators and, I would add, this is on a 
bipartisan basis. This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue. This is on 
a bipartisan basis. The members of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee asked him a number of questions and Mr. Hogland would not 
clarify the U.S. policies denial of the Armenian genocide. In many 
instances he did not respond to specific Senators' questions, and he 
diverted his answers by responding with what seemed like prepared 
talking points and went to extreme lengths to avoid using the term 
``genocide.''
  Additionally, in response to a written inquiry from Senator John 
Kerry concerning Turkey's criminal prosecution of journalists for 
writing about the Armenian genocide, Mr. Hogland referred to these 
writings as allegations.
  Now, let me say, the U.S. has historically taken a leadership role in 
preventing genocide and human rights. But the Bush administration 
continues to play word games by not calling evil by its proper name in 
this case. Instead, they refer to the mass killings of 1.5 million 
Armenians as tragic events. That term, Mr. Speaker, should not be 
substituted for genocide. The two words are simply not synonymous. 
There are historical documents that show that the genocide cannot be 
refuted. But somehow the Bush administration continues to ignore the 
truth in fear of offending the Turkish Government.
  Now, again, I don't think that our Nation's response to genocide 
should be denigrated to a level acceptable to the Turkish Government. 
And it is about time that this administration started dictating a 
policy for Americans, not for a foreign government like Turkey. This 
lack of honesty, in my opinion, by the Bush administration is simply 
not acceptable. The American people and this Congress deserve a full 
and truthful account of the role of the Turkish Government in denying 
the Armenian genocide.
  Now, let me just say one more thing before I conclude this afternoon, 
Mr. Speaker. There is no way, in my opinion, that Mr. Hogland is going 
to be confirmed because of his policy, because of the fact that he 
continues to articulate a policy of denial. And I fear, myself, that it 
would make no sense to send an ambassador from this country to Armenia 
who cannot articulate the genocide. So I simply ask that this 
nomination be opposed again in the Senate, and the Bush administration 
realize that it can't submit it, and that they simply withdraw the 
nomination.

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