John Ordway, a native Californian and the newly-named U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia, was the guest of honor at a Tuesday luncheon in the Faculty Center.

Members of the UCLA faculty and staff and many guests from the Armenian American community joined Ordway to wish him the best of luck.

"We wish you a lovely stay ... among our hospitable people," said Armenian Consul General Valery Mkrtoumian during a short speech.

Ordway will soon head to what Mkrtoumian called "a country of young democracy and ancient tradition" to represent the United States.

Ordway was appointed ambassador on Oct. 30 and sworn in last month.

At the luncheon, Ordway – wearing a pin with both American and Armenian flags on his jacket – said representing the United States in Armenia is especially important because there are more than 1 million Armenian Americans living in the country.

Ordway called Armenian Americans the "life blood" in the relationship between the American and Armenian people.

Though the mood of the lunch was often jovial, nearly all in the room grew somber when the subject matter turned to the United States' refusal to recognize the Ottoman Empire's Armenian Genocide of 1915.

The U.S. Congress is not in good position to recognize the Genocide because doing so might hurt U.S. relations with Turkey, Ordway said.

But Richard Hovannisian, chair of the Armenian Studies program at UCLA, politely disagreed, saying that failing to recognize the Genocide not only hurts Armenians but also has a long-term and detrimental affect on Turkey.