InternationalMatt Bryza gets recess appointment to Azerbaijan
Published: Wednesday December 29, 2010
Matt Bryza, left, with Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, right, during an Armenia-Azerbaijan summit. . Armenian president's press office
Washington - President Barack Obama circumvented the Senate on December 29 to appoint four ambassadors, sending Matt Bryza to Azerbaijan over objections from two Democratic Party senators.
Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) held Bryza's nomination after raising questions over his record as U.S. envoy for Karabakh talks.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) encouraged the hold, arguing that Bryza had too close a relationship to the Aliyev regime to perform effectively; ANCA criticized the recess appointment as "deeply troubling" and showing "utter disregard" for Obama's campaign commitments to Armenian Americans.
According to the White House statement others appointed during congressional recess were Francis Ricciardone to Turkey and ambassadors to Syria and the Czech Republic.
Ricciardone was held by outgoing Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who has been elected governor. Brownback was apparently concerned with Ricciardone's record as Ambassador to Egypt.
Ambassadorial nominee to Syria was held by a number of senators sympathetic to Israel and the one to the Czech Republic by a Republican senator in a partisan dispute.
Senate will be unable to review the appointments until late next year.
