US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack stated he knows nothing of recalling US Ambassador to Armenia John Evans. «I am not aware if we recalled anyone. I suppose John Evans still serves as Ambassador in Yerevan,» he remarked. It should be reminded that many media reported the ambassador is recalled, referring to reliable sources, «The US State Department is going to recall John Evan, who stated last year that he considers the events in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 a genocide.» At the same time Representative Grace Napolitano (D – CA) asked Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried a question on the Ambassador to Armenia during yesterday’s hearings in the Congress.
The California Representative tried to clear out whether Evans was really recalled owing to statements on the Armenian Genocide and if not, why his tenure is curtailed (previous Ambassadors served longer). Napolitano also asked whether the US State Department officially bans its officers interpreting the murder of a million and a half Armenians as a genocide. The Representative also asked Mr. Fried on the opportunity to open the Armenian-Turkish border and the expediency of building the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, to whom the question was addressed during the hearings past month, is expected to answer the question about John Evans, reported RFE/RL.
