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July 30, 2010
Baku envoy nominee faces bruising confirmation fight
In a city riven with nasty confirmation battles, among the nastiest
involves the appointment of Matthew Bryza to be U.S. ambassador to
Azerbaijan.
While there were early signs that Bryza's nomination would be
contentious, the Obama administration proceeded with it anyway, perhaps
recognizing that opposition to Bryza did not fall along the usual
partisan lines, as Bryza's diplomatic star rose under the Bush
administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also said by
Foggy Bottom sources to support Bryza for the envoy job.
Something of a preemptive campaign began against Bryza last summer,
months before Obama announced his nomination in May. The gist of the
critique back then was that Bryza, a foreign service officer who rose to
become Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs, had been seen as too close to Georgian president Mikheil
Saakashvili in the run up to Russia's invasion of Georgia in August
2008.
"The indictment of Bryza is that in all of their meetings [and] dinners,
. [Bryza] did not make [Georgian president] Misha [Saakashvili]
understand the single most important point about U.S. policy toward
Georgia -- if you try to invade Abkhazia or South Ossetia, and Russia
responds, we will not support you," one American Caucasus expert who
asked to speak anonymously says.
Bryza supporters vigorously dispute the charge. "Matt was close to
Saakashvili, but that made it all the stronger when he warned
Saakashvili against responding to Russian provocations," a senior U.S.
official who asked to speak anonymously told POLITICO. "Saakashvili did
not heed this advice, or Rice's, or that of others . but that is his
responsibility." Bryza, in the midst of the confirmation process,
declined to comment.
Now some Washington interests critical of the Azeri regime as well as
the influential Armenian American lobby group, the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA) are working to sink the nomination. ANCA has
raised questions about whether there is a conflict of interest posed by
the work of Bryza's Turkish-born wife Zeyno Baran at the Hudson
Institute. It has suggested that her research at the Hudson Institute
may have been funded by Turkish, Azeri and Caspian energy interest
contributions to the think tank that would raise questions about Bryza's
ability to deliver tough messages to Baku and about his independence in
various high-intensity disputes. Among them are the Armenian-Azeri
dispute over Nagorno Karabakh and the bitter, long-running feud between
Turkey and Armenia.
Baran, who has done research supportive of Caspian energy projects such
as the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline that is also supported by the U.S.
government, directed the Nixon Center's International Security and
Energy programs from 2003 to 2006, then served as a senior fellow at the
Hudson Institute from 2006 to 2009. Since July 2009, she has taken no
salary from the think tank, and is currently on maternity leave.
While Hudson has not publicly disclosed its funding sources, its CEO
says Baran's work has not been funded by the Turkish or Azeri
governments.
"This issue is frankly a red herring," Hudson Institute CEO Kenneth
Weinstein told POLITICO in a statement Friday. "Zeyno Baran's work has
never been funded by official Turkish or Azeri sources. We received
funding from the Azerbaijan-Turkey Business Association for a 2007
conference on US-Azerbaijan-Turkish economic, political, energy, and
trade issues, but Hudson Institute's costs exceeded expenses."
U.S. officials who have worked with Bryza also strongly dispute any
conflict of charges leveled against Bryza and his wife. "Matt's record
of straight, strong talk with the Azeris is unquestioned by those who
worked with him for years and witnessed him in action," the senior U.S.
official said. "Suggestions to the contrary reflect ignorance, willful
distortion or, as in the attacks on his wife, bigotry.
"Matt is the best candidate for a tough job: he knows the region and the
issues, and likes the people, but he is also a keen-eyed observer of
their vices as well as their virtues and relentless in his pursuit of
American interests," the official said.
ANCA has also expressed concern about the fact that the Azeri foreign
minister served as one of Bryza's witnesses at his 2007 wedding in
Turkey to Baran. But the wedding write up that appeared in Turkey's
Zaman newspaper indicated that senior Armenian officials were also
invited, but did not attend.
It's no surprise, however, that the Armenian President, defense minister
and foreign minister sent their regrets, along with telegrams and a
floral wreath, one observer noted, since showing up in Istanbul would
have really made headlines, given that Armenia and Turkey do not have
diplomatic ties. And the Armenian Patriarch in Turkey His Beatitude
Armenian Patriarch Mesrob did attend, as did several Armenian NGO
leaders. Despite that, and several positive testimonials about Bryza
from Armenian and Armenian American figures, ANCA formally issued an
action alert this week asking its members to call their Senators to
oppose the nomination.
"I think our general sense is that American diplomacy in the Caucasus
and Azerbaijan would be well served by a fresh start with a new
ambassador who doesn't have deep ties into the Azerbaijani government or
serious conflict of interest issues with financial interest and energy
interests in the region," Aram Hamparian, executive director of ANCA,
told POLITICO Thursday. "Matt is a good diplomat," Hamparian added, "but
not for the Caucasus."
Bryza told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at his nomination
hearing last week that he and Baran had made a conscious decision to
separate their personal and professional lives ten years ago in order to
avoid the appearance of any such conflicts.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wrote the State Department
Wednesday asking the nominee to answer concerns similar to those raised
by ANCA.
Baran "has done no work on the South Caucasus since January 2009, has
received no salary since July 2009 and has been on leave without pay;
and Baran's program at Hudson will shut down at the end of this month,
as had long been the plan, with Baran now on maternity leave," states
the State Department's response to be submitted to the Senate.
Meanwhile, one Washington-based lobbyist and consultant who works on the
Caucasus who declined to speak on the record is floating another set of
claims against the nominee. One focuses on an August, 1997 car accident
involving Bryza when he was serving as a diplomat in Moscow. A woman was
hit and received serious head injuries in the accident and news reports
at the time said the United States expressed regret for the accident,
after which Bryza transferred out of Russia.
A U.S. official says all documentation on the case was shared with the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee legal counsel, including a statement
from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Bryza would not be
charged with a crime and was free to return to Russia.
Some U.S. officials suggest some of the claims being floated against
Bryza may be motivated by other regional powers' desire to avoid strong
U.S.-Azeri ties. They suspect that the motivation of some of the
critiques are not specific to Bryza himself but intended to basically
delay getting a U.S. ambassador to Baku at all and by extension, to
diminish U.S.-Azeri relations.
The U.S. has not had an ambassador in Azerbaijan since last July.
"Plenty of folks from a certain pro-Russian bent seem increasingly
desperate to prevent the improvement U.S.-Azerbaijan relations," one
observer said.
On Friday, Bryza's name was added to a list of two dozen ambassador
nominees the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to vote on at a
business meeting next week before breaking for August recess.
From: A. Papazian
Baku envoy nominee faces bruising confirmation fight
In a city riven with nasty confirmation battles, among the nastiest
involves the appointment of Matthew Bryza to be U.S. ambassador to
Azerbaijan.
While there were early signs that Bryza's nomination would be
contentious, the Obama administration proceeded with it anyway, perhaps
recognizing that opposition to Bryza did not fall along the usual
partisan lines, as Bryza's diplomatic star rose under the Bush
administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also said by
Foggy Bottom sources to support Bryza for the envoy job.
Something of a preemptive campaign began against Bryza last summer,
months before Obama announced his nomination in May. The gist of the
critique back then was that Bryza, a foreign service officer who rose to
become Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs, had been seen as too close to Georgian president Mikheil
Saakashvili in the run up to Russia's invasion of Georgia in August
2008.
"The indictment of Bryza is that in all of their meetings [and] dinners,
. [Bryza] did not make [Georgian president] Misha [Saakashvili]
understand the single most important point about U.S. policy toward
Georgia -- if you try to invade Abkhazia or South Ossetia, and Russia
responds, we will not support you," one American Caucasus expert who
asked to speak anonymously says.
Bryza supporters vigorously dispute the charge. "Matt was close to
Saakashvili, but that made it all the stronger when he warned
Saakashvili against responding to Russian provocations," a senior U.S.
official who asked to speak anonymously told POLITICO. "Saakashvili did
not heed this advice, or Rice's, or that of others . but that is his
responsibility." Bryza, in the midst of the confirmation process,
declined to comment.
Now some Washington interests critical of the Azeri regime as well as
the influential Armenian American lobby group, the Armenian National
Committee of America (ANCA) are working to sink the nomination. ANCA has
raised questions about whether there is a conflict of interest posed by
the work of Bryza's Turkish-born wife Zeyno Baran at the Hudson
Institute. It has suggested that her research at the Hudson Institute
may have been funded by Turkish, Azeri and Caspian energy interest
contributions to the think tank that would raise questions about Bryza's
ability to deliver tough messages to Baku and about his independence in
various high-intensity disputes. Among them are the Armenian-Azeri
dispute over Nagorno Karabakh and the bitter, long-running feud between
Turkey and Armenia.
Baran, who has done research supportive of Caspian energy projects such
as the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline that is also supported by the U.S.
government, directed the Nixon Center's International Security and
Energy programs from 2003 to 2006, then served as a senior fellow at the
Hudson Institute from 2006 to 2009. Since July 2009, she has taken no
salary from the think tank, and is currently on maternity leave.
While Hudson has not publicly disclosed its funding sources, its CEO
says Baran's work has not been funded by the Turkish or Azeri
governments.
"This issue is frankly a red herring," Hudson Institute CEO Kenneth
Weinstein told POLITICO in a statement Friday. "Zeyno Baran's work has
never been funded by official Turkish or Azeri sources. We received
funding from the Azerbaijan-Turkey Business Association for a 2007
conference on US-Azerbaijan-Turkish economic, political, energy, and
trade issues, but Hudson Institute's costs exceeded expenses."
U.S. officials who have worked with Bryza also strongly dispute any
conflict of charges leveled against Bryza and his wife. "Matt's record
of straight, strong talk with the Azeris is unquestioned by those who
worked with him for years and witnessed him in action," the senior U.S.
official said. "Suggestions to the contrary reflect ignorance, willful
distortion or, as in the attacks on his wife, bigotry.
"Matt is the best candidate for a tough job: he knows the region and the
issues, and likes the people, but he is also a keen-eyed observer of
their vices as well as their virtues and relentless in his pursuit of
American interests," the official said.
ANCA has also expressed concern about the fact that the Azeri foreign
minister served as one of Bryza's witnesses at his 2007 wedding in
Turkey to Baran. But the wedding write up that appeared in Turkey's
Zaman newspaper indicated that senior Armenian officials were also
invited, but did not attend.
It's no surprise, however, that the Armenian President, defense minister
and foreign minister sent their regrets, along with telegrams and a
floral wreath, one observer noted, since showing up in Istanbul would
have really made headlines, given that Armenia and Turkey do not have
diplomatic ties. And the Armenian Patriarch in Turkey His Beatitude
Armenian Patriarch Mesrob did attend, as did several Armenian NGO
leaders. Despite that, and several positive testimonials about Bryza
from Armenian and Armenian American figures, ANCA formally issued an
action alert this week asking its members to call their Senators to
oppose the nomination.
"I think our general sense is that American diplomacy in the Caucasus
and Azerbaijan would be well served by a fresh start with a new
ambassador who doesn't have deep ties into the Azerbaijani government or
serious conflict of interest issues with financial interest and energy
interests in the region," Aram Hamparian, executive director of ANCA,
told POLITICO Thursday. "Matt is a good diplomat," Hamparian added, "but
not for the Caucasus."
Bryza told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at his nomination
hearing last week that he and Baran had made a conscious decision to
separate their personal and professional lives ten years ago in order to
avoid the appearance of any such conflicts.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wrote the State Department
Wednesday asking the nominee to answer concerns similar to those raised
by ANCA.
Baran "has done no work on the South Caucasus since January 2009, has
received no salary since July 2009 and has been on leave without pay;
and Baran's program at Hudson will shut down at the end of this month,
as had long been the plan, with Baran now on maternity leave," states
the State Department's response to be submitted to the Senate.
Meanwhile, one Washington-based lobbyist and consultant who works on the
Caucasus who declined to speak on the record is floating another set of
claims against the nominee. One focuses on an August, 1997 car accident
involving Bryza when he was serving as a diplomat in Moscow. A woman was
hit and received serious head injuries in the accident and news reports
at the time said the United States expressed regret for the accident,
after which Bryza transferred out of Russia.
A U.S. official says all documentation on the case was shared with the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee legal counsel, including a statement
from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Bryza would not be
charged with a crime and was free to return to Russia.
Some U.S. officials suggest some of the claims being floated against
Bryza may be motivated by other regional powers' desire to avoid strong
U.S.-Azeri ties. They suspect that the motivation of some of the
critiques are not specific to Bryza himself but intended to basically
delay getting a U.S. ambassador to Baku at all and by extension, to
diminish U.S.-Azeri relations.
The U.S. has not had an ambassador in Azerbaijan since last July.
"Plenty of folks from a certain pro-Russian bent seem increasingly
desperate to prevent the improvement U.S.-Azerbaijan relations," one
observer said.
On Friday, Bryza's name was added to a list of two dozen ambassador
nominees the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to vote on at a
business meeting next week before breaking for August recess.
From: A. Papazian