He speaks up, loses job

March 6, 2007 10:54 PM PST
Glendale News Press

U.S. policy is out of sync with the truth, former ambassador to Armenia says.

By Ryan Vaillancourt

GLENDALE — John Marshall Evans, the former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Armenia, did something that none of his predecessors in the State Department ever dared. He called the mass killings of Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915 a "genocide."

For using that word, Evans said, he lost his job.

Evans came to Glendale on Tuesday to appear on the Larry Zarian Forum television show.

And while his comments didn't go over well with the State Department, he is now hailed by local Armenian Americans as a hero.

"He is one of the most respected people in the Armenian community," Zarian said.

Evans was appointed ambassador in August 2004. He first spoke about the Armenian genocide six months later in Watertown, Mass., and then again during addresses in Los Angeles, Fresno and Berkeley, Evans said.

At each address, he made it clear that his position on the genocide was not shared by the State Department, Evans said.

"While I was ahead of the thinking of the United States government, I did make the distinction that this was my personal view," he said.

Evans' comments won him admiration from the Armenian American community and the American Foreign Service Assn. — comprised of current and former U.S. foreign service officers — selected Evans to receive their prestigious "constructive dissent" award.

But the State Department, which has not recognized the killings as a genocide, ordered Evans to issue a retraction of his statements and the American Foreign Service Assn. revoked the constructive dissent award on a technicality, Evans said.

Despite the retraction and after a career in foreign service, the State Department forced Evans into early retirement in September.

"He spoke the truth about the Armenian genocide and for that the State Department punished him under influence from the Turkish government," said Zanku Armenian, board member of the Armenian Committee of America, Western Region. "For the risk he took, the Armenian American community is forever grateful."

Evans said he does not regret his statements and though he supports the United States' foreign policy in Armenia, he remains critical of the government's position on the genocide.

"When a policy is wildly out of sync with what the public knows to be truth, especially in a democracy, that policy no longer commands respect," Evans said. "The way [the State Department] treats this event was not fully honest. I tried to deal with it in the system and it was not possible, so I broke with my government."

Though alarming to many in the Armenian American community, Evans' controversial departure has brought more national attention to the genocide issue.

"The issue is bubbling up into a crescendo," Armenian said.

In May, President George W. Bush nominated former ambassador to Tajikistan Richard Hoagland to replace Evans. That nomination has been stalled twice by New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who has twice used a parliamentary procedure to hold Hoagland's appointment.

Hoagland has argued that the events of 1915 do not constitute genocide because, despite the mass killings, there was no "intent," Armenian said.

Currently, there is no US ambassador to Armenia.

"There's never going to be a good time to deal with this issue," Evans said.

"It's always going to be difficult. But I felt if it never went on the record, there was a prospect that [the genocide] would never be addressed."

Evans' appearance on the Larry Zarian Forum will air on Thursday at 7 p.m. on Channel 26.

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