United States Ambassador To Armenia
Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union on August 23, 1990, having previously been the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the constituent republics of the USSR since 1936, and part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic since 1920. In the wake of the August Coup (1991), a referendum was held on the question of secession. Following an overwhelming vote in favor, full independence was declared on September 21, 1991. However, widespread recognition did not occur until the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. The United States recognized Armenia on December 25, 1991.
The embassy at Yerevan was opened February 3, 1992, with Steven Mann as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim.
The U.S. ambassadorial post to Armenia became vacant on May 24, 2006, when the then-current ambassador John Marshall Evans was recalled by the Bush administration, purportedly over remarks by Evans concerning the Armenian genocide. On May 23, 2006, and again on January 9, 2007, President Bush nominated Richard E. Hoagland to be the new ambassador to Armenia, but the nomination was delayed in The Senate in a dispute between the Bush administration and Congress over the Armenian genocide issue. Rudolf V. Perina, the chargé d'affaires ad interim, served as the chief of the mission until August 1, 2008 when Marie L. Yovanovitch began her term as the ambassador.
Read more about United States Ambassador To Armenia: Nomination
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states and/or ambassador:
“Today’s difference between Russia and the United States is that in Russia everybody takes everybody else for a spy, and in the United States everybody takes everybody else for a criminal.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“... the yearly expenses of the existing religious system ... exceed in these United States twenty millions of dollars. Twenty millions! For teaching what? Things unseen and causes unknown!... Twenty millions would more than suffice to make us wise; and alas! do they not more than suffice to make us foolish?”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)
“I believe the citizens of Marion County and the United States want to have judges who have feelings and who are human beings.”
—Paula Lopossa, U.S. judge. As quoted in the New York Times, p. B9 (May 21, 1993)
“I would like to be the first ambassador to the United States from the United States.”
—Barbara Mikulski (b. 1936)