Interview with ambassador Robert Cekuta, former United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan,
Adjunct Senior Professorial Lecturer at American University
Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan Bob Cekuta arrived in Baku February 2015. His last assignment in the U.S. Foreign Service was to serve as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Energy Resources of the Department of State. There he played a critical senior management role in establishing the new Energy Bureau, developing programs advancing global energy security while overseeing initiatives to fight corruption and build good governance and accountability in global oil and gas production.
Previously, Amb. Cekuta served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy, Sanctions, and Commodities, Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs (2010-2011), Senior Advisor for Food Security, Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs (2010-2010), Senior Deputy Coordinating Director for Economic and Development Affairs, Embassy Kabul (2009-2010), Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs, Embassy Tokyo (2007-2009), Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs, Embassy Berlin (2003-2007), Director, Iraq Economic Group, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (2002-2003), Special Negotiator for Biotechnology, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (2002), Director, Economic Policy Analysis and Public Diplomacy, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (2000-2002), Senior Advisor, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (1999-2000), and Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy Tirana, (1996-1999). In addition, he directed a Kosovo task force and served earlier in his career in the Bureau of Near East and South Asian Affairs. Overseas, he also served in Vienna, Baghdad, Johannesburg, and Sana’a.
Amb. Cekuta earned a B.S.FS from Georgetown University, a Master’s Degree at Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a Master’s Degree at the National Defense University, Washington, D.C. He is the recipient of numerous awards from the Department of State, including eight Senior Performance Awards, four Superior Honor Awards and five Meritorious Honor Awards. He speaks German, Albanian and Arabic.
Diplomatic and Cultural Understanding
- During your time as Ambassador to Azerbaijan, how did cultural understanding shape your diplomatic strategy?
Cultural understanding is essential for effective diplomacy, but while there may be good cultural programs underway at an embassy – which was certainly something I had the advantage of when I became Ambassador in 2015 – cultural understanding of a country is something one needs to keep working on and developing throughout a diplomatic assignment. No matter how much one studies before arriving at post or how much one listens and seeks to learn over the course of a tour, there is always more to learn and understand.
Keeping ears and eyes open, getting out of the. embassy, doing your best to walk around and talk to people who are not officials, getting out of the capital and seeing other cities, towns, and natural and historical sites, these are all critical to building up cultural understanding and were things my wife and I did right up to the end of my posting as ambassador.
I will also say as a kind of personal note that continuing to build up my understanding of the culture of Azerbaijan and the other countries where I was assigned is something that I have tried to keep doing even after my years in the U.S. foreign service.
- What were the most significant cultural differences you encountered, and how did you navigate them in your diplomatic work?
Perhaps the most significant cultural differences involved the speed and ways foreign governments and people where I was assigned made decisions, and the urgency Washington officials see regarding an issue. Something else we don’t always appreciate is how decisions are made abroad, the different stages in their decision-making processes, and factors foreign partners include in making their decisions and the weight which they give those different factors.
What was also important to seek out was how different cultures see how we Americans make decisions. I remember a number of top officials complaining that Washington would not always take everything it should into account and would therefore need to come back later and reopen something the host country thought was settled.
As for navigating these differences, one of the things at the core of diplomatic practice is getting your home government to have a sense of these differences. Clarifying those differences and getting your home country to take them into account is one of the most important things an ambassador – or anyone on the embassy staff – needs to do in order to build effective relations with the host country and to advance your home country’s interests there.
- How do you see the role of culture and tradition in shaping modern political decisions in countries like Azerbaijan?
Culture and traditions are among the most important components in a nation’s identity. They play a key role in how countries act and react. In countries like Azerbaijan, which were under the control of others for extended periods of time, it was culture that helped keep the national identity alive. Culture and traditions are therefore factors that shape government priorities and policies.
In the case of Azerbaijan, a long-standing tradition of different ethnic and linguistic groups living amicably side-by-side is something Azerbaijan values, seeks to preserve, and works to highlight in its international engagement. One of the most notable examples of this tradition is the status of Jewish groups in the country, which, in turn, has had a strong impact on Azerbaijan’s close relations with Israel.
- Can you share an example of a cultural exchange or initiative you supported that helped bridge gaps between the U.S. and Azerbaijani communities?
Of course. A number of examples come to mind.
One of the things we did was to build on aspects of American culture that were already of interest to Azerbaijanis. For example, Azerbaijanis have a deep interest in and love of jazz so we brought over American jazz groups for concerts in Azerbaijan, but also to jam with Azerbaijani jazz musicians. Another example is that on one of the important anniversaries of our establishing diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan, the Embassy’s cultural affairs section organized a big concert with the symphony in Baku to play works by Copeland, Samuel Barber, and other American composers.
Something else the State Department does to promote American culture is the Art in Embassies program. Under this program I worked with a part of the Cultural Affairs Bureau in Washington to select works by contemporary American painters for display in the public spaces in the embassy. Connecting with the diversity in Azerbaijan – although the country is just about the size of Maine, it has nine of the world’s eleven climate zones – I managed to get paintings showing the range of America, from industrial ports, to New England maple sugaring, to paintings by Native Americans of the American southwest, to forests.
Another thing we did was to have events at the Embassy in connection with Azerbaijani holidays and culture. Novruz, a traditional celebration of the beginning of spring and a new year, is a major holiday. My wife and I would host a big party at our residence, which included Americans and Azerbaijanis jumping over a fire, something which is a traditional part of the Novruz celebration as a way to leave behind the old and move into the new year.
- What role do local communities and cultural institutions play in diplomacy and peacebuilding efforts?
In different countries our embassies will work with different institutions to reach out and engage host country citizens and to build bridges with the United States. When I was posted in Vienna and Berlin, for example, American symphonies frequently visited and performed, strengthening connections between our countries through a mutual love of classical music.
Local communities and organizations can play important roles in peacebuilding by engaging with similar institutions on the other side of a dispute of to explain positions, find common ground, and move engagement forward. This type of activity is a key aspect of Track II processes, such as that between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. These types of programs are very useful in building conditions for leaders to realize peace agreements or to advance understanding and normalize relations after an agreement ending a conflict has been signed. The State Department has traditionally supported these types of peacebuilding efforts by the U.S. Institute for Peace, non-government organizations, religious groups, and others. Again and again these sorts of efforts have been effective in reducing tensions and in building stability, peace, and greater prosperity.
- What advice would you give to young professionals working in multicultural environments or international organizations?
Perhaps the most important and basic point – but one that too often and too easily gets forgotten – is that you are NOT on your own home turf. Moreover, if you are in a multilateral/international meeting or organization, you need to remember constantly that there are at least as many different sets of cultures at play as there are individuals in the room and that you have to act and comport yourself accordingly.
Aside from the fact that each participant is going to be working from their own home culture as well as looking to advance their country’s agenda/interests, there may also be a culture, a set of specific interests, sensitivities, and ways of doing things that are particular to that international organization or agency. These particulars will include things like does the organization make decisions based on consensus or by voting. Who is a major player? Which country or other party is supplying the bulk of the financing. Who has the biggest interest in the matter under discussion at the moment and who is connecting the matter under discussion at the moment with the issue that was just discussed or with an issue which is coming up later? Who has been the biggest player in the past and who is looking to play a bigger role now or in the future. Is there someone who feels isolated and therefore going to be a potential problem or are you looking to isolate a particular country or other entity in order to achieve the objective you have been sent to the meeting or agency to achieve?
These are just some of the things you need to be doing when taking into account cultures in a multilateral context.
In short, there is a constant need to be thinking and acting in ways that are cognizant of the other parties’ cultures, that take into account your own culture, and also that take into account how your culture – and the organization’s own culture – might get in the way of achieving your objectives, or could be used to advance them.
- In your view, how can multicultural diplomacy contribute to conflict resolution and sustainable development?
The answer to that question really depends on the issue or issue at hand as well as on the parties involved.
I would say as a former U.S. diplomat that multilateral diplomacy is an extremely useful tool, for example, in advancing sustainable development. First of all, sustainable development often involves issues that cross borders, what some refer to as “problems without passports.” Almost by definition then, they are going to require a multilateral approach, one that brings together a number of different countries – and perhaps also the private sector, civil society, subnational groups – in order to be addressed.
When it comes to conflict resolution, things may depend on the specific conflict. However, something I found in my career is that there may be lessons from one conflict and how it was addressed that can be brought to dealing with another. For example, tools the United States used to help address ethnic conflicts in one part of the world might contain elements that could be used to overcome decades of hostility elsewhere. Moreover, there might be areas where the United States does not really have experience. Our common law traditions might not be the best basis for helping countries with Roman Law traditions. I remember looking to how Latin American countries worked with lustration and other problems associated with building democracies after years of dictatorships, to trying to bring experts from those countries to places looking to build democracies and sound rule of law systems after years of authoritarian rule.
- How should U.S. foreign policy adapt to the cultural sensitivities of the regions it engages with, especially in the South Caucasus?
Again, I would say effective diplomacy requires “reading the room,” i.e., understanding the historical and other cultural issues at play, for example in helping Armenians and Azerbaijanis build a lasting peace.
However, while understanding cultures is important to understanding the roots of a conflict and the factors in play when it comes to governments’ thinking and where Azerbaijanis and Armenians are and what they think of each other, there has to be a sense of how to move past where things are now.
Signing a peace agreement is a necessary first step, but a peace agreement does not necessarily bring real peace. Building a real peace is going to time, patience, and determined efforts on the part of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and also on the part of other countries and institutions that can make a positive contribution to building that understanding and peace between Azerbiajanis and Armenians. We need to remember that in 1946, ’47, ’48, another war between France and Germany was not unthinkable. Today it is and that is because of the decades of work that have been underway in western Europe to build understanding and connections among the countries, people, and cultures of the region. I hope the United States will bring this same focus and effort to helping Armenians and Azerbaijanis build a lasting, real peace to the region.