White House names new Ambassador to Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Bush Administration has submitted to the Armenian government the name of Marie L. Yovanovitch as the next Ambassador to Armenia, according to several Armenian and American reliable sources, writes Harut Sassounian, The California Courier publisher



She is currently serving as U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic.



This is the first step in diplomatic protocol in the nomination of a new U.S. Ambassador to a foreign country. After receiving Armenia's consent, Pres. Bush would then officially nominate Ms. Yovanovitch as Ambassador to Armenia and submit her name to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and subsequently to the full Senate for final confirmation.



This will be Bush administration's second attempt to nominate an ambassador to Armenia after its recall of Amb. John Evans for using the term Armenian Genocide.



An earlier attempt to nominate Amb. Richard Hoagland to replace Amb. Evans was blocked by Sen. Robert Menendez (Dem.-N.J.), to protest the dismissal of Amb. Evans and to object to Amb. Hoagland's poor choice of words in responding to Senators' questions on the validity of the Armenian Genocide.