Veteran diplomat Matthew Bryza foresees peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia

"There will be a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Two weeks ago, I was in Baku, held meetings at high level and I know that the Azerbaijani leadership is very interested in concluding a peace treaty. Pashinyan and Aliyev are striving to sign this agreement, and the European Union is playing a very successful role in mediation. I expect the signing within two months. Baku is confident that there will be peace if Pashinyan survives," said Matthew Bryza, a member of the board of the Jamestown Foundation, on GSAC's YouTube channel "This is How Politics is Done" 

From a strategic point of view, Azerbaijan is an important country for the United States and Europe because it has oil and gas. It is also important because it is a secular country with the Muslim population, and can be an example of alternative development for Iran and other Muslim countries. In the northern part of Iran, the majority of the population are Azerbaijanis, to whom Azerbaijan can be a good example. The United States does not support separatism in Iran," he said.
"Armenia is an important country for the United States because of the diaspora and the conflict with Azerbaijan. Armenia has the opportunity to become more important to the United States if it signs a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Then there will be a lot of investments in Armenia, it will become a new route from Asia to Europe, along with the road through Georgia. Armenia's relations with Turkey will improve," the American diplomat added.

Bryza explained Azerbaijan's actions in the Lachin corridor and Karabakh in September of this year by military provocations of Armenians.

Recall that M.Bryza is a staff member of the U.S. diplomatic corps and former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan (February 2011 — January 2012). In January 2012, M. Bryza left the diplomatic service after the Senate refused to confirm his appointment to this post. According to the former Ambassador, one Armenian diaspora organization in the United States opposed his appointment, which paid Democratic Senators Robert Menendez and Barbara Bakser who opposed Bryze. Senator Menendez is now accused of major corruption deals.

The Armenians also reminded the Senate that Bryza is married to an American of Turkish origin, a political science specialist Zeino Baran, and therefore he cannot be an objective mediator in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process.

"The Armenian government and other Armenian diaspora organizations did not oppose my appointment as Ambassador to Azerbaijan. Usually, the Senate accepts the nominees of Ambassadors without discussion. But there are exceptions when an important post is up for discussion or the target country is of particular importance to the United States," Bryza added.

M. Bryza explained that such paid political lobbying is a normal practice in the American government system.

When it comes to the American support for Ukraine which is involved in the war, M. Bryza said that a narrow group of Republicans "is blocking military assistance to Ukraine because they want to put pressure on Biden, who wants to change US policy on the border with Mexico. It's stupid and dangerous. There are a lot of such nonsense in the political debate in the United States," Bryza explained.

"The Republican Party is not the same now as it was during my time in government. This Party is fighting by means of slogans, there is no honest political debate. Now there is a cult of Trump in it."

"Putin is not a fool, he is a very rational person. There was no reaction from the West against his actions in Ukraine, so he acted as he saw fit," said Bryza, a career diplomat.

With that said, he appreciates the cool attitude of the United States towards the Russian aggression against Georgia. M. Bryza added that after Russia entered Ukraine, American and European politicians admitted their mistake.-