Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 4 /Trend/
The U.S. Department of State has not yet been notified whether the new ambassadors to Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Syria, nominated by the President Barack Obama at the end of last year, have sworn, Department of State spokesman Philip Crowley said at a briefing.
"They - I'm not aware that they've been sworn in yet, but I think they'll be going through some consultations here at the State Department in the next couple of weeks before they deploy to post," Crowley said.
U.S President, Barack Obama, appointed Matthew Bryza as U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, the press secretariat of the White House said.
According to the U.S. Constitution, the Senate of the U.S Congress must nominate the candidates proposed by the president. However, when Congress is in recess between sessions, the President may take it upon himself to appoint officials.
The presidential decree provides an opportunity to fulfill new duties immediately, without waiting for approval by the Senate. But if the senators do not approve the nomination before the end of the next session of Congress (November-December 2011), this decree ceases to operate.
Obama used his constitutional power during the recess appoint six people who have had their nominations pending for an average of 147 days, according to White House officials.
The U.S Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved Bryza's appointment on Sept. 22.
Bryza's candidacy was officially proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama.
The post of U.S. Ambassador in Baku had been vacant since the previous ambassador, Anne Derse, left after completing of her diplomatic mission in July 2009.
Previously he served as the Director for Europe and Eurasia at the National Security Council in the White House, and has also been Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on the Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. Earlier he also served in Russia and Poland, and was appointed as the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
