UNPRECEDENTED ACTION: SENATORS BLOCK AMBASSADORS TO AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY
By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier
Tert.am
12:43 11.08.10
In a major embarrassment for the Obama Administration, Senators
took an unprecedented action last week, blocking the President’s
ambassadorial nominees for both Azerbaijan and Turkey!
The Administration showed a total lack of experience and poor judgment
by ignoring warnings that Matthew Bryza and Francis Ricciardone,
the nominees for Baku and Ankara, would meet strong opposition in
the Senate.
The White House, State Department, and the Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee had agreed in advance to rush the two
nominees through the confirmation process, before the Senate went
into recess until mid-September. Bryza was so confident of assuming
his post in Baku in early August that he had even made arrangements
to have his house in Washington rented!
Contrary to published reports, the Armenian-American community did
not oppose Bryza’s nomination because of self-serving concerns. The
larger question raised by the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA) was whether Bryza could represent U.S. interests in Azerbaijan
in an objective manner. The nominee’s rough sailing in the Foreign
Relations Committee was due to numerous allegations of conflict of
interest involving both him and his Turkish-born wife’s employer,
The Hudson Institute. The Bryzas were criticized for being “too cozy”
with Azeri and Turkish officials, having received gifts from them on
the occasion of their Istanbul wedding.
Matt Bryza’s evasive and unsatisfactory answers to Senators’ questions
during his confirmation hearing prompted Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
to ask Committee Chairman Sen. Kerry to postpone his confirmation
until mid-September. Meanwhile, U.S. officials and others would have
ample opportunity to fully review all issues raised during the Senate
hearing. Should Senators judge that the allegations against Bryza are
not serious enough to merit rejection, he could then be confirmed as
the next Ambassador to Azerbaijan. However, if evidence of wrongdoing
exists, it would be far better that it surfaces now rather than after
he is posted to Baku, sparing the Obama Administration from scandalous
disclosures and embarrassment.
On the other hand, Francis Ricciardone, the nominee for Turkey,
seemed to be a perfect choice on paper. He is a 32-year veteran of
the Foreign Service who served as deputy ambassador in Afghanistan,
as well as the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, and is fluent in Turkish.
Unfortunately, Ricciardone carries a major liability that the Obama
Administration unwisely ignored. There were loud complaints from
neoconservatives that during his tenure as Ambassador to Egypt, from
2005 to 2008, Ricciardone had failed to support Bush Administration’s
flawed efforts to promote democracy and human rights in that country.
When neoconservatives realized that the Administration was turning
a deaf ear to their objections, they sought to block his nomination.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) placed “a hold” on Ricciardone, after
his confirmation by the Foreign Relations Committee, effectively
blocking his approval by the full Senate.
Foreign Policy magazine reported that Ricciardone’s critics believe
“his strong personality and often blunt speaking style are the wrong
mix for the current task at hand — and that he has a tendency to
get too close to his foreign interlocutors.” The magazine also quoted
Danielle Pletka, Vice President of the American Enterprise Institute,
as stating: “Now is not the time for us to have an ambassador in
Ankara who is more interested in serving the interests of the local
autocrats and less interested in serving the interests of his own
administration.”
Blocking the confirmation of the Ambassadors to Azerbaijan and Turkey
has attracted considerable attention in Washington, Baku, and Ankara.
Major American, Azeri, and Turkish newspapers accused the
Armenian-American community and the ANCA of undermining Bryza’s
nomination. The Washington-based influential “Politico” journal
reported that Bryza had ran into “opposition from the Armenian National
Committee of America, a lobbying group.” The AzerNews Weekly blamed
Bryza’s problems on “the Armenian Diaspora,” and Hurriyet, one of
Turkey’s largest newspapers, reported that Bryza’s nomination was
postponed “in response to pressure from Armenian lobby groups.”
According to some press reports, the Obama Administration may not be
willing to use its political capital to save either nominee. Lincoln
Mitchell, an expert on the South Caucasus at Columbia University,
told RFE that he does not believe the Administration is going to fight
Senators from its own party to save Bryza. A similar assessment was
made in Foreign Policy magazine by an aide to a Republican Senator
about the Administration’s unwillingness to rescue Ricciardone.
The prolonged absence of U.S. Ambassadors from Baku and Ankara comes
at a time of heightened tension in the relations between these two
capitals and Washington. Given the Obama Administration’s multiple
domestic and international crises on the eve of crucial elections in
November, it is doubtful if it could afford to vigorously pursue the
confirmation of its ambassadorial nominees for Azerbaijan and Turkey!
From: A. Papazian