Matthew James Bryza (born February 16, 1964) is a former United States diplomat. His last post in the United States foreign service was the United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
Education
Bryza graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International relations and obtained his Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in 1988.
Career
Beginning of the foreign service
Bryza joined the United States Foreign Service in August 1988. He then served in Poland in 1989-1991 at the U.S. Consulate in Poznań and the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, where he covered the Solidarity movement, reform of Poland’s security services, and regional politics. From 1991 through 1995, he worked on European and Russian affairs at the State Department. Bryza served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow during 1995-1997, first as special assistant to Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering and then as a political officer covering the Russian Duma, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. Following a traffic incident in Moscow in which a pedestrian collided with the side door of his car, he was recalled temporarily by the US State Department, which subsequently received an official communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation that fully exonerated Bryza. No request was received from the Russian government for a waiver of Bryza’s diplomatic immunity and James P. Rubin, the department spokesman of the time stated that Bryza wasn’t at fault. From 1997 through 1998, Bryza was special advisor to Ambassador Richard Morningstar, coordinating U.S. Government assistance programs on economic reforms in Caucasus and Central Asia. Starting from July 1998, he served as the Deputy Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy, coordinating the U.S. Government's inter-agency efforts to develop a network of oil and gas pipelines in the Caspian region.
European and Eurasian Affairs
In April 2001, Bryza joined the United States National Security Council as Director for Europe and Eurasia, with responsibility for coordinating U.S. policy on Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Caspian energy. In June 2005, he assumed duties of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. He was responsible for policy oversight and management of relations with countries in the Caucasus and Southern Europe. He also led U.S. efforts to advance peaceful settlements of separatist conflicts of Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Additionally, he coordinated U.S. energy policy in the regions surrounding the Black and Caspian Seas and worked with European countries on issues of tolerance, social integration, and Islam.
According to leaked diplomatic cables, Bryza had warned Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili in May that war would be a bad option for Georgia.
In August 2009, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Ken Hachikian sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlining the concerns of the Armenian American community regarding what he called the recent "biased remarks by Matt Bryza" the U.S. Co-Chair to the OSCE Minsk Group charged with helping to negotiate a settlement of the Nagorno Karabagh conflict.
Controversy Surrounding Recess Appointment as Ambassador to Azerbaijan
In May 2010, the White House appointed Bryza as the United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan. His nomination ultimately was never confirmed by the full Senate, however, and after serving as Ambassador for less than a year, Bryza left the State Department and joined the Azerbaijani government-affiliated Turcas petrol board.
On September 21, 2010, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved his ambassadorial nomination and sent it to the Senate floor which never approved the nomination. Having failed to receive Senate confirmation for the nomination because of concerns raised by numerous Senators, including Democratic Senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Barbara Boxer of California who are Armenian Caucus members, on December 29, 2010, President Obama issued a recess appointment. This recess appointment allowed Bryza to serve as a temporary ambassador. He presented his credentials as ambassador to Azerbaijan on February 17, 2011, and served less than a year until January 3, 2012, when the recess appointment expired.