AAC Action letter on Ambassador Bryza's confirmation published by the Burlington Times-News in North Carolina.
Letter by Pax Turcica Institute, Azerbaijani-American Council, Azerbaijan Society of America and the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA) in support of Ambassador Matthew J. Bryza's confirmation in the Senate published in the Burlington Times-News in North Carolina.
"Special interests shouldn't dictate foreign policy
A year ago, following the ethnic special interest group’s attempt to block the nomination in Congress, President Barack Obama recess-appointed Matthew J. Bryza as the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan. After over a year of absence of the U.S. envoy to Azerbaijan, Bryza assumed his duties in January 2011. However, to continue serving, Mr. Bryza’s recess appointment must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before the end of 2011. Otherwise, Ambassador Bryza would have to be recalled next month, and such a move would negatively impact U.S.-Azerbaijani relations and damage U.S. foreign policy in the Caucasus region.
President Obama initially nominated Mr. Bryza, then a deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, for the position in May 2010. Having represented the U.S. foreign policy interests in the South Caucasus for the past several years, Mr. Bryza is an expert on regional affairs and a career U.S. diplomat with proven qualifications to serve as the envoy to Azerbaijan. Yet the nomination was impeded from legislative approval by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), under pressure from Armenian-American lobbying groups. Some of the latter have gone as far as claiming that Mr. Bryza is not qualified for the job due to his wife’s ethnic Turkish background.
According to Thomas de Waal, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Menendez and Boxer were “being driven by diaspora Armenian politics as they put a hold on U.S. engagement in the region.”
I join members of the Pax Turcica Institute, Azerbaijani-American Council, Assembly of Turkish-American Associations and Azerbaijan Society of America, to call for Senate confirmation of Matthew J. Bryza as the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan by the end of 2011.
Over the past 11 months, he has proven himself as a successful choice to represent the United States in Azerbaijan, and our foreign policy should not be derailed by the limited agenda of ethnic special interest groups in Congress.
Fevzi Yalin
Elon".
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