Former Sen. Conrad Burns touts President Obama's nomination of Matthew Byrza as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Part of the reasoning for the former Montana Republican senator's endorsement of Bryza and his encouragement that the Senate not delay the confirmation was his reluctant endorsement of President Obama's "apology tour" last year in which the chief executive sought to cultivate Muslim support in return for American admissions of previous mistakes in our dealings with the Islamic nations of the Middle East and elsewhere, Washington Examiner’s Editorial Page Editor Mark Tapscott said in the article titled “Burns oped draws fire from Armenian opposition for concealing his own special interest”
"Let’s set aside our differences, look at our commonalities and step forward with strong leaders to work toward a common good. Today, I urge the United States Senate to follow his advice," Burns wrote earlier.
But that drew a heated response from the Armenian National Committee of America, which opposes the Byrza nomination: "What Sen. Burns fails to mention is his own lobbying firm’s special interest in this case. Public records show that his employer, Gage Business Consulting and Government Solutions, was founded by Leo A. Giacometto, Sen. Burns’ former chief of staff and current boss.
Mr. Giacometto is a Senior Advisor to Silk Way Holding (SW Holding), an Azerbaijan mega-conglomerate which operates 16 companies including Silk Way Bank, Silk Way Airlines and Turan Air, among others.
The company was recently written up by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Azerbaijan because of its questionable financial ties to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev.
By law, President Aliyev is not allowed to own private holdings (although he, by all accounts, already a billionaire many times over), however, family members – like his 21-year old daughter do not fall under the same legal prohibition.
As it turns out, his daughter is co-owner of the multi-million dollar SW Holdings, although she's never been able to offer a reasonable explanation of how she came into the millions needed to make this purchase.
So, in reality, powerful special and foreign financial interests are at play here, but not in the way former Senator Burns describes.
President Ilham Aliyev has an obvious interest in the U.S. sending an Aliyev family-friendly ambassador to Baku, in the person of Mr. Bryza.
The Aliyev family's business partner, Mr. Giacometto, in turn, has an interest in keeping President Aliyev happy by helping to generate favorable media coverage of the Bryza nomination.
He accomplished this, it seems, easily enough via his business connections to the young Miss Aliyev and his professional employment of Senator Burns.
Sen. Burns' defense of the Bryza nomination only reinforces concerns that Mr. Bryza's ties to Azerbaijan’s corrupt ruling elite are simply too close for him to effectively advance U.S. interests in the country.
In fact. Mr. Bryza is so close to the Aliyev regime, that Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov served as one of three witnesses in Mr. Bryza’s wedding, joining his two closest school friends.
Perhaps this sheds some light on Mr. Bryza’s reticence to clearly condemn recent Azerbaijani attacks against the people of Nagorno Karabakh and his prolonged silence in the face of Azerbaijani government destruction of a medieval Armenian cemetery in Djulfa, an act of hatred and religious desecration that Senator Burns, as a self-described practicing Lutheran, must surely abhor.
Yes, the United States needs an ambassador in Azerbaijan, but Mr. Bryza is simply the wrong choice. Senator Boxer did the right thing to delay his confirmation, giving the Obama Administration time to step back from this mistake and nominate a new candidate."
When The Examiner requested a response from Burns, here is the statement he provided:
"This type of statement from the ANCA is why I wrote the op-ed. The ANCA has a very clear agenda to oppose all things related to Azerbaijan; I will allow their record to speak for itself.
I am an advisor to GAGE and to several other companies, including one with business interests in Armenia. I am not an employee of GAGE’s and I do not represent Silk Way Holding.
My interest in this issue is specific to the United State’s interests as we work to strengthen our strategic alliances in the Middle East and the Caspian Region.
This is nothing more than an attack on the messenger and clearly underscores the point of my op-ed, that looking forward rather than backward is the best course of action for the United States. Mr. Bryza remains the best candidate for this position and his leadership will take us forward.
It is not my place to respond to all of the other political accusations. However, in the interest of US Foreign Policy, having an Armenian Interest Group try to dictate who can be our Ambassador to Azerbaijan is akin to allowing the Chinese to tell us who our Ambassador to Taiwan should be.
While Armenia strengthens its ties to Russia and expands Russian military bases within its borders, the United States must work with Azerbaijan in our own national interest."
