Azernews.Az

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Thursday held hearings on President Barack Obama’s nomination of senior State Department official Matthew Bryza as the next US ambassador to Azerbaijan.
In his address, Bryza termed Azerbaijan as a key partner of the United States, pointing out that the country has made a valuable contribution to the international combat against terrorism, according to the Committee’s website.
The ambassador’s post has been vacant since July 2009, when former Ambassador Anne Derse’s tenure expired. In May President Obama nominated Bryza, who was one of the most visible US officials in the Caucasus region during the administration of former President George Bush, serving as deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. He was also the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which seeks to broker a settlement to the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation where ethnic Armenians are running a self-proclaimed republic. Azerbaijan and U.S.-based Azerbaijani groups welcomed the White House nomination, while Armenian diaspora and a number of Armenian officials responded angrily as they accuse Bryza of bias on the Karabakh issue.
Bryza dismissed the criticism over his alleged pro-Baku bias and sought to assure the senators that he would pursue US policies in the vital Caucasus region objectively.
"Being criticized or being thought of as being closer to one side or the other is part of the game, and I have to just remain always objective and deliver the tough messages when necessary," he told the Senate committee.
On Nagorno Karabakh, Bryza said there was no military solution to the long-standing dispute.
"If I am approved as ambassador to Azerbaijan, I will do my best to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict. Negotiations and dialog will help to resolve the dispute and bring peace to the Caucasus. If I am approved, I will provide all the assistance possible to Robert Bradtke, my successor as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, and his two counterparts in their efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement."
Bryza said, further, that Azerbaijan’s role is increasing not only as an oil exporter but also in diversifying sources of natural gas supplies to world markets. As ambassador, Bryza intends to work on facilitating deliveries of Azerbaijani and Central Asian gas to European markets, expanding the gas supply infrastructure of the Southern Corridor.
A story posted on the New York-based Eurasianet.org website said that Bryza had declined to answer a question from Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California about Baku’s alleged bellicose rhetoric against Armenia. He only maintained that the latest ceasefire violation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontline in which four Armenian servicemen and one Azerbaijani soldier were killed had begun from Azerbaijan.
"The ceasefire was violated by Azerbaijan. Armenia retaliated, and this resulted in casualties. Secretary Clinton has condemned the incident," the website quoted Bryza as saying.
Bryza also supported US assistance to Nagorno Karabakh, an issue that has repeatedly raised eyebrows in Azerbaijan. He confirmed that only $2 million of the $8 million appropriated by the US Congress last year for assistance to Nagorno Karabakh had been spent. When asked for a reason by Senator Boxer, Bryza said his staff had assured him that humanitarian funds were being spent "in as efficient a way as possible." He consented to the request of Boxer to provide a "detailed accounting" of all US assistance to the area before his confirmation moves forward.
Senator Menendez expressed concern at comments made by Bryza to the BBC in October 2008, in which, according to the senator, Bryza said "Armenia must agree that Nagorno Karabakh is legally part of Azerbaijan." Such statements, claimed Menendez, had indicated to some that Bryza prioritizes the concept of territorial integrity over that of self-determination.
Bryza said his statement had been incorrectly translated from Russian, and pledged to respect the concept of self-determination for Nagorno Karabakh's residents if he is confirmed as ambassador to Baku.
"My philosophy when it came to Nagorno Karabakh was 'I'm not worth my weight in anything if I am not taking the hits publicly and trying to push the leaders out of their comfort zone and trying to encourage them to take the political risks required for a settlement,'" Bryza added. "To do that, it required me to say things that made one side or the other side a bit uncomfortable, in my estimation."
20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, has been under Armenian occupation for nearly two decades. Defying international law, the separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh declared so-called independence in 1991, which has not been recognized by the world community.
Bryza was responsible for the Caucasus as deputy assistant secretary of state when former US Ambassador to Armenia John Evans was dimsissed from his post, but insisted he had played "absolutely no role" in the dismissal, "as hard as it is to believe."
Asked about the arrest of two bloggers in Azerbaijan, Bryza said that, if approved, he would make freedom of speech a priority. He said Azerbaijan has a long road ahead in terms of democratization, but the potential is there. "Ultimately, if Azerbaijan manages to combine democratization, prosperity and elements of its culture, it will set an example for the world’s countries in transition."
Another question was asked about his wife, Zeyno Baran, a researcher of the Washington-based think-tank Hudson Institute, who is of Turkish origin, which some Armenian critics claim leads to an anti-Armenian bias. Bryza pledged to not let his personal life affect his work.
"We are primarily bonded by her sharp and profound intellect and the fact that she also embraces the international values that I am committed to – peace, well-being, democratization, congruence between Islam and democracy. We have common ideas about the world, and that’s the reason we fell in love with each other. But we also decided ten years ago to separate our professional and personal lives."
Regarding statements that many Azerbaijani officials had joined the Bryza-Baran wedding in Istanbul, Bryza said they had invited many guests to their wedding, and did not know exactly who would attend. He labeled as a lie the rumors that an Azerbaijani official had financed their wedding, adding that all the expenses involved had been covered by his family.
While on the defensive for most of the hearing, Bryza did enjoy the support of Republican Senator Richard Lugar, who called for his prompt confirmation as ambassador.
"In my experience, Matt has skillfully advanced United States interests by taking a balanced approach to our relationships in this complex region, and he has not hesitated to point out the shortcomings of regional leaders in the areas of democratic development, human rights, and press freedom," the senator said.
Meanwhile, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) claimed that Bryza’s speech "had raised more questions than it provided answers. "He failed to give comprehensive answers to the questions about his wife Zeyno Baran and the conflict of interests," it claimed in a statement.
The US Azeris Network, a lobbying organization for the Azeri interests in the United States, has praised Bryza’s nomination. In a statement, the group said that after a nearly year-long vacancy of the post of US ambassador in Baku, "there is now an expectation to see the relations between the two nations to expand and regain positive momentum."
Ambassadors must be confirmed by the full US Senate. The vast majority of presidential nominations are approved.*