PNN – American Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mark Libby announced that he resigned from his position due to health problems. Expressing his satisfaction with the achievements of his tenure in Baku, he emphasized on strengthening the relations between the people of the two countries and expanding economic cooperation.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, Mark Libby, the American ambassador to Azerbaijan, resigned from his position by publishing a statement on the website of the American Embassy in Baku.
In this statement, Libby expressed regret for this decision and said: It is with a heavy heart that I announce my resignation from the diplomatic service of the United States. Unfortunately, the health problems I mentioned in the 2023 Senate hearing have continued.
Appreciating the medical services provided in the Republic of Azerbaijan, especially the diagnostic radiology team at the Central Clinic, he said: The results of the latest tests show that it is time for me to return home and fully focus on my health; therefore, at the end of a busy but very successful year 2024, I will be stepping down.
Libby plans to spend the remaining weeks of 2024 in Azerbaijan participating in programs to raise awareness about cancer.
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Stating that difficult but valuable progress has been made in bilateral relations in the past year, Libby said: I leave Azerbaijan with great optimism. I am leaving here with great love and affection for the people of Azerbaijan and the natural beauty and warm hospitality of this country that my wife and I have experienced throughout Azerbaijan.
It should be noted that on May 25, 2022, US President Joe Biden nominated Mark Libby for the post of US Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
His nomination process ended later in the year, and on January 3, 2023, Mark Libby’s nomination papers were returned to Joe Biden. Biden renominated Libby later that day. His nomination hearings were held on June 13, 2023 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On July 13, 2023, the committee gave a positive opinion on his candidacy. Mark Libby’s nomination was fully confirmed by the US Senate on November 8, 2023. In this way, the American ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan, whose position was vacant for a year, began to work.
In general, the appointment of the American ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan traditionally becomes a very difficult and complicated process. Because the Armenian lobby in America attaches special importance to the fact that the ambassador sent to the Republic of Azerbaijan is pro-Armenia.
For example, at the beginning of 2011, Matthew Bryce, the new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Azerbaijan, came to Baku. In 2007, she married Zino Baran, a famous American researcher on the South Caucasus region, originally from Turkey. This also discouraged the Armenian lobby. As a result, he could only work as an ambassador for one year. Armenia’s lobby did not allow Matthew Bryce to work in Baku. Mark Libby is someone who has always been away from the Armenian lobby. Therefore, the Armenian lobby did not like his candidacy.
After the candidacy of this ambassador, as a result of the activities of the Armenian lobby, negative propaganda against him was spread.
He was even accused of sexual assault. A woman by the name of Amy Dame has been contacting various authorities in America about Mark Libby for a long time. But these requests were of no avail and the American authorities considered such accusations baseless.
Amy Dame writes about Mark Libby: When I heard the news last summer that my former boss, Mark Libby, had been nominated by the White House for the embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, my whole body began to shake. I was sexually assaulted by him. This rape took place in certain secret places where there were no cameras or sound recorders.