In December 2011, following over a year of absence of US envoy in Azerbaijan, President Obama recess-appointed Matthew Bryza to the position.
But after a year of obstruction by senators Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., driven by Armenian-American ethnic special interest, the Senate flouted the confirmation of Ambassador Bryza before the end of 2011. Consequently, the highly experienced US diplomat had to vacate his position in January 2012 and U.S.-Azerbaijani relations were harmed.
According to the Washington Post, The Senate’s failure to confirm Ambassador Bryza “offers a vivid example of how the larger US national interest can fall victim to special-interest jockeying and political accommodation.”
The ethnic lobby now seeks to prolong the absence of US envoy to Azerbaijan, thereby derailing US foreign policy in this vital region bordering Iran and Russia. Azerbaijan has been a staunch US ally in the “War on Terror,” opening its airspace and contributing troops in support of the US-led missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Azerbaijan’s significant oil and gas reserves, currently explored by Western energy companies, remain essential to Europe’s energy security and independence from Russia’s growing gas monopoly.
The continued absence of a US ambassador in Azerbaijan will benefit neighboring Iran. Since 1918, Azerbaijan has been the world’s first secular republic with a predominantly Muslim population. After the fall of Soviets in 1991, Azerbaijan has been among the few Muslim nations friendly towards both Israel and the United States. Disappointment over the US regional policy driven by Armenian ethnic interests may diminish Azerbaijan’s pro-Western drive and increase Iran’s influence in this sensitive region.
Furthermore, the one-sided bias in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict harms US position of an impartial mediator and weakens Azerbaijani confidence in the sincerity of US support for their fledgling democracy.
I join Azerbaijani- and Turkic-Americans, members of the Pax Turcica Institute, to express my disappointment over foreign ethnic agenda disgracefully tainting our national interests and to urge a prompt White House nomination and Senate confirmation of US Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Fevzi Yalin
Elon
News.Az
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