ARMENIAN SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISITING WASHINGTON

UNCLAS YEREVAN 001573

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

G FOR UNDER SECRETARY DOBRIANSKY
EUR FOR A/S FRIED, A/DAS JFOX, ACE/TADAMS AND CACEN/KWITMER
ECA FOR VOLVIS/LWEBER AND LMAKHOLM
NSC FOR SENIOR DIRECTOR KOZAK
AID FOR ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR LUTEN (E&E)
FROM AMBASSADOR EVANS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISITING WASHINGTON


(SBU) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly.


1. (SBU) Artur Baghdasarian, the young, energetic and
charismatic Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, is
flying to Washington today for a ten-day visit including a
seven-day Voluntary Visitor program that has been a joint
effort by the Office of International Visitors, Embassy
Yerevan, the National Democratic Institute, the Armenian
Legislative Strengthening Program funded by USAID, and the
Armenian-American Assembly, as well as some private
individuals. Although the timing of his visit is not the
best, straddling Labor Day, this will be Baghdasarian's first
real exposure to Washington, and we hope it will have the
effect of confirming this young political leader's confidence
in democracy and his Western orientation.


2. (SBU) Baghdasarian claims to be the youngest parliamentary
speaker in Europe. In our experience, he "gets it" on
democracy, and has spoken out repeatedly and fearlessly on
issues of concern to Armenian voters. As the leader of the
smallest party (Orinats Yerkir or "Country of Law") in the
three-party governing coalition, he has occupied an important
mediatory position and has used it not only to his own
advantage, but for the greater good. In the current
drawn-out duel between President Kocharian and the opposition
over the constitutional amendments, he has managed to keep
lines of communication open in both directions, even drawing
praise from some opposition members. He also has been a
leader in pressing for more normal relations with both Turkey
and Azerbaijan, and maintains cordial relations with the
speakers of both those countries' parliaments. Earlier this
year he received a traveling member of the Turkish parliament
in the face of criticism by the local media.


3. (SBU) Baghdasarian has been open to advice from both the
Armenian Legislative Strengthening Program, and from NDI,
both funded by USAID. He was helpful to us in the
parliamentary debate over the non-combatant unit Armenia sent
to Iraq at the beginning of this year. He will be traveling,
at our suggestion, with his accomplished English-speaking
wife, Anna. We urge those with whom Artur Baghdasarian is
scheduled to meet to try to keep those appointments if at all
possible, and to engage with this young and personable
political leader who, we think, should have a bright future
in the Republic of Armenia. Baghdasarian has recently been
working on his English, but is not yet fully fluent.


4. (SBU) On Capitol Hill, Baghdasarian is scheduled to meet
with Speaker Hastert; however; we have been warned that that
meeting may well fall through. He is also scheduled to speak
at CSIS and to visit the offices of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation.


5. Baghdasarian's bio is available on Embassy Yerevan's new
classified website at www.state.sgov/p/eur/yerevan.


EVANS