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. His nomination was opposed by Armenian-American lobbying groups, as well as the human rights group Reporters Without Borders. Armenian Americans raised conflict of interest concerns including reports that the then Azerbaijani Foreign Minister served as 1 of 3 groomsmen in Bryza's wedding, although Bryza, at the time, was mediating a deadly conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in his professional capacity as the U.S. Minsk Group Co Chair. Reporters Without Borders raised concerns about the persecution of Azerbaijani reporters who reported that an Azerbaijani government minister partially paid for Bryza's wedding. According to an article by Ganimat Zahid and Agil Khalil in the Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq, the then Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, Heydar Babayev, paid for a significant portion of Bryza’s wedding in Istanbul, Turkey. Both Zahid and Khalil were sued over their article and Azadliq correspondent Agil Khalil was the target of four murder attempts and had to flee to France. Concerns