RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY USA WOULD HURT RELATIONS WI

[MosJan]

RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY USA WOULD HURT RELATIONS WITH TURKEY, US AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA SAYS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS: Speaking at a luncheon at the University of California, John Ordway, US ambassador to Yerevan, said representing the United States in Armenia was especially important because there are more than 1 million Armenian Americans living in the country.

In a reference to the Armenian genocide Ordway said the U.S. Congress is not in good position to recognize the genocide because doing so might hurt U.S. relations with Turkey, Ordway said.

But Richard Hovannisian, chair of the Armenian Studies program at UCLA, politely disagreed, saying that failing to recognize the genocide not only hurts Armenians but also has a long-term and detrimental affect on Turkey.

John Ordway also addressed the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide at a news conference in Glendale Tuesday. Though Ordway did not say whether the U.S. government plans to recognize the genocide, he did say that improving relations between Armenia and Turkey, and Armenians and Turks, is an issue that needs to be addressed.

"It's not something that's going to go away," Ordway said. "We believe it's something that must be handled with a great deal of sensitivity, and that's what we intend to do."

Speaking about the Nagorno Artsax conflict Ordway ruled out the possibility of resumption of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, adding that "Azerbaijan is not just capable of resorting to military actions."

"Our goal is t try and ease the tension, to make efforts to reconcile the conflicting sides, to seek for ways which even would not lead to immediate resolving of the conflict, but would allow establishment of an atmosphere of reciprocal trust and outlining the actions that would lead to the final settlement of the conflict," he said.

Stressing that he did not want to underestimate the bellicose announcements by Azerbaijan, the ambassador said: "Choosing resumption of hostilities would be unreasonable and would be accepted negatively by the both OSCE Minsk group and international community."