The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Ken Hachikian sent a letter to the members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, regarding President Obama’s nomination of Matthew Bryza to serve as Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan, ANCA reported.

In letters sent to each of the panel’s 19 members, ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian explained that the Armenian American community’s concerns on the Bryza nomination fall into “two general categories, the first pertaining to potential conflicts of interest, and the second to shortcomings in his execution of our nation's foreign policy priorities.”

“There is credible cause, in our view, for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to look into how the professional activities of Mr. Bryza’s wife, scholar Zeyno Baran, may have created potential conflict of interest issues with the conduct of his official duties,” he said.

“As is a matter of public record, Ms. Baran has professionally engaged in advocacy regarding the same U.S. policies and practices that Mr. Bryza has had an official role in formulating and implementing.  Her employer, the Hudson Institute, again as a matter of public knowledge, receives funding from foreign and corporate interests, including energy firms, that are financially affected by the conduct of the very U.S. diplomacy that Mr. Bryza has overseen, and would certainly play a central role in coordinating if approved as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan,” Hachikian noted.

ANCA Chairman closed his correspondence by underscoring that, “in light of the vital role that will be played by the next U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, particularly in terms of a Nagorno-Karabakh resolution, we strongly believe that the concerns we have raised regarding potential conflicts of interest, and, equally, the full range of policy issues addressed in our reference materials, deserve the close attention of your office, the full Foreign Relations Committee, and the entire U.S. Senate."