By Haykaram Nahapetyan
WASHINGTON – The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hosted hearings of several nominees as ambassadors last week, including Lynne M. Tracy a native of Barberton, Ohio, who is President Donald Trump’s candidate to head the US diplomatic mission in Yerevan.
As has already happened in similar cases many times before, those senators who have a significant Armenian constituency, among them Ed Markey, D-MA, and Robert Menendez, D-NJ, raised questions that matter for their voters.
“The overall goal of Armenian policy remains an independent, democratic and prosperous Armenia, at peace with its neighbors, and we continue to affirm our commitment to sovereign Armenia, free to choose its own partners,” said Tracy in her opening remarks on December 4. For her full statement, see here.
As expected, the spring events this year in Armenia, when, as Tracy worded it, “hundreds of thousands took the streets with determination but without violence, to hold the government accountable,” were among the key points of the diplomat’s statement and again arose during the following question and answer session with senators.
“Armenia still has work ahead to cement the gains of the past six months,” Tracy said, and pledged that if confirmed, she would continue efforts to support Armenia’s democratic aspirations.