[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11389]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FAREWELL TO AMBASSADOR TATOUL MARKARIAN

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 8, 2014

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say a bittersweet farewell 
to Tatoul Markarian, Armenia's long-serving Ambassador to the United 
States and a man with whom I have had the pleasure of working for much 
of the past decade, since his appointment as Ambassador to the United 
States in March 2005.
  The last nine years have been challenging ones for Armenia. Turkey 
and Azerbaijan have continued their campaign to isolate Armenia 
diplomatically and economically, even as the country has worked to move 
forward on the path to full democracy, while also seeking to develop 
its economy and bring needed services and opportunity to the people of 
Nagorno-Karabakh. I have been proud to work with Ambassador Markarian 
and his team at the embassy on these and many other challenging issues, 
including recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States 
Congress, and on behalf of the tens of thousands of Armenian-Americans 
in my district, I wish him all the best as he takes up his position in 
Brussels as Armenia's Ambassador to the European Union.
  Prior to taking up his post in Washington, Ambassador Markarian 
served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia since June 
2000. In that capacity, his responsibilities included the Ministry's 
Departments of Politico-Military Affairs; International Organizations; 
CIS Countries; and Asia-Pacific and Africa. He was also the Armenian 
coordinator for the U.S.-Armenia Strategic Dialogue as well as the 
NATO-Armenia Political-Military Dialogue. In 2002-2004, Ambassador 
Markarian was also Special Representative of the President of Armenia 
for Nagorno Karabakh negotiations. In 1999-2000, he served as Advisor 
to Foreign Minister.
  The United States has had a great friend in Ambassador Markarian and 
the U.S.-Armenian relationship has been greatly strengthened by his 
work here.

                          ____________________