WASHINGTON-The White House on Tuesday officially nominated Matthew Bryza as the next US Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

He currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs, and until recently was the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group that is mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

As co-chairman, Bryza, who is married to Turkish author Zeyno Baran, enjoyed a rich relationship with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and his close circle of leaders and advisers. Often times his controversial tenure as the US co-chairman was marred by his obvious support for Azerbaijan in the peace process and his denial of the Armenian Genocide.

"We look to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the full U.S. Senate to carefully scrutinize Mr. Bryza's record, his formal testimony, and responses to the inquiries that he will face during his confirmation process," said Armenian National Committee of America Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "As we have outlined publicly on a number of occasions, we continue to have an array of concerns about Mr. Bryza's conduct of U.S. diplomacy - as an NSC official, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and as the U.S. negotiator in the Nagorno Karabagh peace process - and, as such, look forward to a vigorous process of advice and consent by the Senate."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will first tackle the nomination, and if approved, it will go to a vote to entire Senate.