TV STATIONS AIR AD CRITICIZING OPPOSITION LEADER

UNCLAS YEREVAN 001539 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CARC, EUR/PPD E.O. 12958; N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON KPAO AM SUBJECT: TV STATIONS AIR AD CRITICIZING OPPOSITION LEADER REF: YEREVAN 1422 This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The opposition Orinats Yerkir Party has called for an official investigation into a television advertisement that it said unfairly denigrated the leader of its party, Artur Baghdasarian. According to the party, the advertisement is part of a "black PR" campaign that government officials are waging against it. Three regional television stations told us they had in fact aired a three-minute clip that questioned the legality of the means by which Baghdasarian had acquired property and other assets. Zangak TV, a regional television channel located in the city of Martuni, told us that the Republican Party, head of the governing coalition, gave them the tape but took it back after the station aired it once. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Orinats Yerkir Spokesperson Susanna Abrahamian told us that a number of regional television stations aired the advertisement, which she said presented "groundless accusations" against Baghdasarian, who was relieved as parliament speaker earlier this year following a series of policy disputes with other members of the ruling coalition. Abrahamian said that the party had requested the advertisement be investigated because it was part of a wider "black PR campaign" in which government officials also tried to prevent the party from renting venues, and pressured television stations not to provide the party with broadcast time (reftel). (NOTE: We have heard other reports of opposition parties being denied government rental space for their gatherings. END NOTE.) ¶3. (SBU) Three regional channels -- Shirak TV in Gyumri, Zangak TV in Martuni, and Hrazdan TV in Hrazdan -- told us they had aired a three-minute clip questioning the legality of the means by which Baghdasarian had acquired property and other assets. All three television stations told us they aired the clip only once and that they were paid to air it. Zangak TV, a private station considered to be pro-government, told us that the Republican Party of Prime Minister Andranik Margarian and Defense Minister Serzh Sargsian had given them the tape, but that a member of the party had taken it back after the station aired it. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Though we have not seen the clip, the description we have heard does not sound much more egregious than political advertisements run in the United States. The problem for the opposition in this case is obtaining air time for rebuttals from Armenian television stations, basically all of which are considered pro-government. Given the broadcast media's record so far this year, that does not seem likely. GODFREY