State Dep. backs Bryza's nomination and hopes for earliest approval

US State Department is supportive of the nomination of Matthew Bryza as US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, US State Department said in a statement, asked by Voice of America to comment on the fact the US Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Robert Menendez (D-CA) have placed a hold on Bryza's nomination.

"Mathew Bryza is the State Department candidate. He has the experience and qualifications necessary to assume that position, and we hope that the Senate will confirm him in that position at the earliest possible," reads the statement.

Earlier the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had voted on Bryza's nomination with Boxer and Menendez voting against it. But later Senator Barbara Boxer placed a hold on Bryza's nomination. Senator Menendez followed suit.

"Thanks to senators Boxer and Menendez, US diplomacy dodged a bullet today," Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America, had said.

"It would have been a serious mistake - both for US strategic interests and for hopes of lasting peace in the Caucasus - to have sent Matt Bryza to Baku amid escalating threats of renewed war by Azerbaijan's leaders. Given his track record, he clearly would have been the wrong diplomat, at the wrong time, in exactly the wrong post. We are deeply grateful to both senators for preventing this grave diplomatic misstep."