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Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
[email protected]
Internet www.anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
July 30, 2010
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
KERRY SCHEDULES BRYZA CONFIRMATION VOTE
DESPITE INCOMPLETE AND EVASIVE ANSWERS
-- Bryza Responds to Written Questions Submitted by Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman John Kerry, and Senators Barbara Boxer, Robert Menendez,
and Russ Feingold
WASHINGTON, DC - Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee, today announced that his panel will
hold a vote next Tuesday, August 3rd, on the confirmation of
Matthew Bryza, President Obama's controversial nominee to serve
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, despite the nominee's evasive and
incomplete answers to a series of written questions submitted to
him by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and key members of
this influential panel, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).
"Mr. Bryza's evasive, unresponsive, and incomplete written answers
to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, even more than his
spoken testimony before this panel, confirm our reservations about
his troubling track record, and clearly confirm that he is not the
right person to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan," said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "American diplomacy in
the region would be well served by a fresh start, with a new
ambassador who doesn't have deep ties into Azerbaijan's corrupt
government, a history of turning a blind-eye to Baku's aggression,
or serious conflict of interest issues."
"We want to thank Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and offer our
sincere appreciation to Senators Boxer and Menendez and all the
those who have worked hard to ensure that we send an ambassador to
Baku who can effectively represent U.S. interests, persuasively
advance American values, and - crucially, for the cause of peace -
constrain an increasingly belligerent Aliyev regime from acting on
its threats of renewed war," added Hamparian.
Bryza's July 22nd confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations
Committee raised more questions than answered on a range of issues,
prompting Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chairman Kerry to submit written questions
to the nominee and, significantly, prompted a detailed letter of
inquiry to the State Department directly from Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid.
Azerbaijani Aggression:
During Bryza's July 22nd committee appearance, he confirmed, for
the first time by an Administration official, the widely reported
news that Azerbaijan had, in fact, initiated the June 18, 2010
incident on the Nagorno Karabagh frontier that led to the death of
four Nagorno Karabagh and one Azerbaijani soldier. In response to
a question from Senator Boxer, he acknowledged Azerbaijan sparked
the conflict, but then sought to deflect responsibility onto
Nagorno Karabagh forces, which he mistakenly described as
"Armenia[n]," stating: "There was an Azerbaijani movement across
the line of contact, Armenia responded, resulting in deaths." In
response to Senator Boxer's follow-up written question asking "Why
hasn't the U.S. government been more forceful in its condemnation
of Azerbaijan," Bryza retreated from his cautious spoken remarks,
saying only that: "the full details of what occurred on June 18 are
not known."
In response to a separate written question by Senator Boxer as to
whether Azerbaijan's June 18th attack against Nagorno Karabagh
represented a violation of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act,
which restricts U.S. aid to Azerbaijan unless it takes demonstrable
steps to cease offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh, Bryza repeated: "The full details of what occurred on
June 18 are not known," and then went on to defend the
Administration's waiver of Section 907 and to generally praise
Azerbaijan as a "important security partner" to the United States.
Azerbaijan's Desecration of the Djulfa Cemetery
In response to written inquiries about Bryza's prolonged silence in
the wake of Azerbaijan's December 2005 demolition of the Armenian
cemetery in Djulfa, Bryza argued that he had made private comments
on this matter to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov,
but could not point to any public remarks until March of the
following year, when he was confronted with questions on this
subject by journalists at a Yerevan press conference. In the
nearly three month period of Bryza's silence on Djulfa, this issue
was covered in the international media and publicly condemned by
U.S. Members of Congress, international NGOs, and the full European
Parliament.
Conflict of Interest:
In response to concerns by Sen. Menendez regarding conflict of
interest issues that arose regarding Bryza's wife, Zeyno Baran, and
her professional work at the Hudson Institute advocating on U.S.
policy toward Azerbaijan and the Caspian region, Bryza argued that,
since January 2009, Baran had "shifted the focus of her work" from
the South Caucasus to "Islam, democracy and extremism in Europe and
the United States." (A Google search reveals numerous instances of
public commentary by Baran regarding the South Caucasus since
2009.)
The source of the funding for Baran's Center for Eurasia Policy
program at the Hudson Institute remains unclear. The Hudson
Institute has, as of today, refused to respond to a June 3, 2010
written request from the ANCA that it publicly share its sources of
funding from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Fast-tracking of Nomination
An editorial published today in The Armenian Weekly voiced the
Armenian American community's frustration with the Senator Kerry's
fast-tracking of the Bryza nomination. "All citizens and Senators
deserve a chance to meaningfully participate in the important
Constitutional process of ambassadorial confirmations, especially
when vital life-and-death issues are at stake, as they are in
Nagorno Karabagh," noted the Weekly. "As Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee and a Senator representing America's
oldest and one of its largest Armenian American communities, John
Kerry should put the brakes on the Bryza nomination."
The full text of The Armenian Weekly editorial can be found at:
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/07/30/whats-the-rush-senator-
kerry/
Armenian Americans have been contacting their Senators to oppose
the Bryza nomination through an ANCA action alert:
http://www.capwiz.com/anca/callalert/index.tt?alertid=15249851
Links to Sen. Reid's letter, and Responses to Questions submitted
by Senators Boxer and Menendez are posted on the ANCA website -
www.anca.org
From: A. Papazian
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
[email protected]
Internet www.anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
July 30, 2010
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
KERRY SCHEDULES BRYZA CONFIRMATION VOTE
DESPITE INCOMPLETE AND EVASIVE ANSWERS
-- Bryza Responds to Written Questions Submitted by Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman John Kerry, and Senators Barbara Boxer, Robert Menendez,
and Russ Feingold
WASHINGTON, DC - Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee, today announced that his panel will
hold a vote next Tuesday, August 3rd, on the confirmation of
Matthew Bryza, President Obama's controversial nominee to serve
U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, despite the nominee's evasive and
incomplete answers to a series of written questions submitted to
him by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and key members of
this influential panel, reported the Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA).
"Mr. Bryza's evasive, unresponsive, and incomplete written answers
to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, even more than his
spoken testimony before this panel, confirm our reservations about
his troubling track record, and clearly confirm that he is not the
right person to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan," said Aram
Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA. "American diplomacy in
the region would be well served by a fresh start, with a new
ambassador who doesn't have deep ties into Azerbaijan's corrupt
government, a history of turning a blind-eye to Baku's aggression,
or serious conflict of interest issues."
"We want to thank Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and offer our
sincere appreciation to Senators Boxer and Menendez and all the
those who have worked hard to ensure that we send an ambassador to
Baku who can effectively represent U.S. interests, persuasively
advance American values, and - crucially, for the cause of peace -
constrain an increasingly belligerent Aliyev regime from acting on
its threats of renewed war," added Hamparian.
Bryza's July 22nd confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations
Committee raised more questions than answered on a range of issues,
prompting Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ),
Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chairman Kerry to submit written questions
to the nominee and, significantly, prompted a detailed letter of
inquiry to the State Department directly from Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid.
Azerbaijani Aggression:
During Bryza's July 22nd committee appearance, he confirmed, for
the first time by an Administration official, the widely reported
news that Azerbaijan had, in fact, initiated the June 18, 2010
incident on the Nagorno Karabagh frontier that led to the death of
four Nagorno Karabagh and one Azerbaijani soldier. In response to
a question from Senator Boxer, he acknowledged Azerbaijan sparked
the conflict, but then sought to deflect responsibility onto
Nagorno Karabagh forces, which he mistakenly described as
"Armenia[n]," stating: "There was an Azerbaijani movement across
the line of contact, Armenia responded, resulting in deaths." In
response to Senator Boxer's follow-up written question asking "Why
hasn't the U.S. government been more forceful in its condemnation
of Azerbaijan," Bryza retreated from his cautious spoken remarks,
saying only that: "the full details of what occurred on June 18 are
not known."
In response to a separate written question by Senator Boxer as to
whether Azerbaijan's June 18th attack against Nagorno Karabagh
represented a violation of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act,
which restricts U.S. aid to Azerbaijan unless it takes demonstrable
steps to cease offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh, Bryza repeated: "The full details of what occurred on
June 18 are not known," and then went on to defend the
Administration's waiver of Section 907 and to generally praise
Azerbaijan as a "important security partner" to the United States.
Azerbaijan's Desecration of the Djulfa Cemetery
In response to written inquiries about Bryza's prolonged silence in
the wake of Azerbaijan's December 2005 demolition of the Armenian
cemetery in Djulfa, Bryza argued that he had made private comments
on this matter to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov,
but could not point to any public remarks until March of the
following year, when he was confronted with questions on this
subject by journalists at a Yerevan press conference. In the
nearly three month period of Bryza's silence on Djulfa, this issue
was covered in the international media and publicly condemned by
U.S. Members of Congress, international NGOs, and the full European
Parliament.
Conflict of Interest:
In response to concerns by Sen. Menendez regarding conflict of
interest issues that arose regarding Bryza's wife, Zeyno Baran, and
her professional work at the Hudson Institute advocating on U.S.
policy toward Azerbaijan and the Caspian region, Bryza argued that,
since January 2009, Baran had "shifted the focus of her work" from
the South Caucasus to "Islam, democracy and extremism in Europe and
the United States." (A Google search reveals numerous instances of
public commentary by Baran regarding the South Caucasus since
2009.)
The source of the funding for Baran's Center for Eurasia Policy
program at the Hudson Institute remains unclear. The Hudson
Institute has, as of today, refused to respond to a June 3, 2010
written request from the ANCA that it publicly share its sources of
funding from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Fast-tracking of Nomination
An editorial published today in The Armenian Weekly voiced the
Armenian American community's frustration with the Senator Kerry's
fast-tracking of the Bryza nomination. "All citizens and Senators
deserve a chance to meaningfully participate in the important
Constitutional process of ambassadorial confirmations, especially
when vital life-and-death issues are at stake, as they are in
Nagorno Karabagh," noted the Weekly. "As Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee and a Senator representing America's
oldest and one of its largest Armenian American communities, John
Kerry should put the brakes on the Bryza nomination."
The full text of The Armenian Weekly editorial can be found at:
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2010/07/30/whats-the-rush-senator-
kerry/
Armenian Americans have been contacting their Senators to oppose
the Bryza nomination through an ANCA action alert:
http://www.capwiz.com/anca/callalert/index.tt?alertid=15249851
Links to Sen. Reid's letter, and Responses to Questions submitted
by Senators Boxer and Menendez are posted on the ANCA website -
www.anca.org
From: A. Papazian