Chris Van Hollen: ‘You know a good ambassador when you see one’: Video Report
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POTOMAC, M.D. – On Wednesday, July 21, 2021 Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) wrapped up his working meetings early in order to go to community activist and Armenian Assembly of America’s board member Annie Simonian-Totah’s beautiful residence for a farewell party for Varuzhan Nersesyan, the ambassador of Armenia to the United States. Finishing his tenure in Washington, D.C., Nersesyan is ready to depart to London to his new assignment as the next ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to the United Kingdom.
Invitees apart from speakers included Washington Armenian community leaders, Armenian Embassy staff, Father Sarkis Aktavoukian, former US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Permanent Representative of the Artsakh Republic to the US Robert Avetisyan, Armenia’s honorary consul Oscar Tatosian and Museum of the Bible board member Matt Marc. After a prayer, guests enjoyed an Armenian delicious dinner and later were invited down to the basement theater hall to continue the farewell event.
“You know a good ambassador when you see one,” stated Van Hollen, citing Nersesyan’s hard work in 2020 when the attack on Karabakh took place. The senator noted Turkey’s participation in that war. Earlier the same day, during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on US policy on Turkey, Van Hollen spoke on this same topic, criticizing Turkey’s “malign actions” against Armenians.
Van Hollen expressed satisfaction that it was during Nersesyan’s tenure that both the US president and Congress finally recognized the Armenian Genocide. “The executive branch is always a little behind,” joked the senator, hinting at the chronology of the events: recognition by both chambers of Congress predates the presidential proclamation by nearly two years.
For Ambassador John Evans, calling the events of 1915 genocide meant the end of his diplomatic service. In 2005, while working as an ambassador of the United States to Armenia, he told the truth about what had happened to Armenians in World War I, for which the Bush Administration fired the American diplomat from the Foreign Service. At the farewell event, Ambassador Evans remarked that a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide has been introduced in the UK’s parliament and the tremendous task of achieving the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the prime minister and even the Queen now falls upon Ambassador Nersesyan.
Referring to Armenians as a “new but also very old nation,” the former vice-president of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Peter Rosenblatt recalled his trips to Armenia and Artsakh, “his emotional visit to the Armenian Genocide memorial” and his trip to earthquake-hit Gyumri. On behalf of the AJC, Rosenblatt assured of this organization’s long-lasting relations with the Armenian community and “strong support with President Biden’s history-making recognition of the Genocide.”
Hotel Association President to be Ambassador to UAE
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YERUSHALAYIM -
Sunday, July 25, 2021 at 12:46 pm |
Amir Hayek (Amir Hayek via Twitter)
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced on Sunday his appointment of Amir Hayek as Israel’s permanent ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
Hayek is currently the president of the Israel Hotel Association. He previously headed the Manufacturers Association of Israel and was director-general of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.
“Amir Hayek, deeply experienced and knowledgeable in the fields of economy and tourism, is the right person to institutionalize the bridge between Israel and the UAE,” Lapid said. “After the opening of the embassies, the time has come to appoint the first ambassador to the UAE.”
Israel opened its first embassy in the UAE in June.
Pakistan: Outcry over ‘barbaric murder’ of former ambassador’s daughter
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The “barbaric” murder of Noor Mukaddam, the daughter of a former ambassador has triggered outrage across and raised questions over the safety and security of in the country.
Noor Mukaddam’s murder reignited a debate on violence against as thousands of people took to social media to demand justice, recalling other femicide victims whose deaths sparked less furore, including at least two killed in the recent past.
The victim’s father, Shaukat Mukaddam, has served as Pakistan’s ambassador to South Korea and Kazakhstan.
TRT World reported that Mukaddam, 27, was found murdered in a house in an upscale neighbourhood in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on July 20. Police, however, arrested a suspect, Zahir Jaffer, a friend of the victim, at the scene later that day.
“Another day. Another woman brutally killed. Another hashtag. Another trauma. Another (likely) unsolved case. Another trigger. Another fear fest. Another rage roar. Another eid. ‘Protection of women’ bill oppose kernay walon ko mubarik,” a netizen wrote on Twitter.
“Flagbearers of change, this is your acid test - do what it takes to ensure that no other Saima, Quratulain or Noor is the victim of our collective apathy, again,” tweeted a journalist.
Taking to Twitter, Human Rights Minister, Shireen Mazari said: “The barbaric murder of young woman, Noor, in Islamabad is yet another horrifying reminder that have been and are brutalized and killed with impunity.”
“This must end. We are committed to ensuring no one is above the law & culprits having influence & power cannot simply ‘get away’,” she said.
On Saturday, Islamabad police arrested the parents and household staff of suspect Zahir Zakir Jaffer – accused of torturing and brutally killing Noor Mukadam – for “hiding evidence and being complicit in the crime”, Dawn reported.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)