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Will the Armenian-American Lobby Block the Confirmation of the New MG Co-Chair?

grabdmitry.com

Washington expressed hope that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Hoagland's large and longstanding diplomatic experience will play a significant role in the efforts of the US for the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict. This is said in a statement of the US Embassy in Yerevan.

It should be recalled that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair James Warlick's term ended on December 31, 2016. Since January 2017 Ambassador Richard Hoagland will temporarily take over the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair. Hoagland has more than 30 years of experience in diplomatic activity. He was the US ambassador to Tajikistan in 2003-2006, to Kazakhstan in 2008-2011 and US Deputy Ambassador to Pakistan in 2011-13. But before these appointments he headed the Caucasus and Central Asia Department of European and Eurasian Affairs Office and was also the US Embassy spokesman in Russia.

During his long diplomatic career Hoagland also had some connection with Armenia. In 2006, after John Evans left his position as US Ambassador to Armenia under George W. Bush administration, Richard Hoagland was nominated to this position, but the Senate twice blocked it by the initiative of pro-Armenian Senator Robert Menendez and the efforts of the Armenian community. Menendez believed that the man who denies the Armenian Genocide cannot present US interests in Armenia. At the hearings in Senate Hoagland stated that he recognizes the events of 1915 but does not consider them as genocide.

"We, of course, do not forget this infamous incident, but we expect that we will have a constructive relationship with Ambassador Hoagland, and look forward to the negotiations on Artsakh,"  ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian commented on Hoagland's nomination.

In any case, experts do not rule out that the Armenian-American lobby will block the confirmation of the Co-Chair in the Senate. However we should not forget that the Co-Chair himself does not have any significant role in the resolution of the conflict. What is more important is the Co-Chair's country's approach.

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