Why the US cannot approve ambassador to Azerbaijan

Political experts continue to discuss the reasons why the US cannot appoint new Ambassador Matthew Bryza to Azerbaijan. The Washington Post published an article by Fred Hiatt, in which he said that the Armenian lobby is against Bryza. The article says that oil-rich Azerbaijan, a republic on the Caspian Sea coast, has a population of 8 million people, mainly Muslims. Its competitor is Armenia with a population of 3 million, mainly Christians. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and two pro-Armenian US republican senators - Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez - disapproved of Bryza as the ambassador. They do not consider the ambassador hostile enough towards Armenia's foes.

Grigory Trofimchuk, Vice-President of the Center for Modeling Strategic Development, noted that Azerbaijan cannot waste finances on information wars, unlike Armenians using their PR resources.

Russian and Azerbaijani experts agree that the role of the Armenian lobby was not the key one in approving the ambassador, Fikret Sadykhov, a professor of the Western University of Baku, says. It is more likely a confrontation between the White House and Congress. The same thing happened with the financial debt, when republicans and democrats had a major dispute. The appointment of the US ambassador to Russia was complicated too. A lot will depend on the US president.



Trofimchuk believes that the appointment of Matthew Bryza is related to the appointment of the US ambassador to Russia. This demonstrates extra attention being paid by Western and European structures to post-Soviet space. The region should expect changes in the near future. He added that any ambassador appointed will be approved by Azerbaijan, because it will be a link to the USA's official position.

Sadykhov says that the official would not go beyond recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial unity. Bryza is loyal enough to Azerbaijan, but he would not fully protect Azerbaijani interests. He is a US citizen and protects US interests. There should be no major changes for Azerbaijan, the expert believes.