ARMENIA: MEDIA REACTION ON FRIED VISIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000395 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/PPD, EUR/CARC E.O. 12958; N/A TAGS: OPRC AM KMDR KPAO SUBJECT: ARMENIA: MEDIA REACTION ON FRIED VISIT -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, accompanied by Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian Conflicts Steven Mann, visited Armenia March 15-16. As part of his visit, Fried held a press conference on March 16 that received broad coverage from the print and broadcast media. The press reported on Fried's comment that the Nagorno- Karabakh settlement process was "not in stagnation," his remark that that the U.S. is "looking hard" at energy diversification issues in Armenia, and the fact that Fried was not asked to explain comments that the Azerbaijani press claimed he made in Baku. Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian also gave an interview to Armenian Second television station during which he discussed his meeting with Fried. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT PROCESS "IS NOT IN STAGNATION" -------------- -------------- ¶2. The media largely focused on Fried's comment that the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process is "not in stagnation." "Aravot," an opposition daily, published an article entitled, "There is no 'Stagnation' Regarding the Karabakh Issue." "Armenia Liberty," RFE/RL's Armenian Service, entitled its article, "U.S. Negotiators Say Peace Talks Stalled but not Dead." The articles states, "A senior American diplomat believes there is still an opportunity for Armenia and Azerbaijan to make a breakthrough in the Karabakh settlement process. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried said in Yerevan on Thursday that he is convinced that negotiations can be continued despite the lack of progress at the latest round of high-level talks at Rambouillet." -------------- MEDIA FOCUS ON FRIED'S STATEMENTS IN BAKU -------------- ¶3. The Armenian media also focused on the fact that no questions were asked about Azerbaijani press reports about statements made by Fried in Baku. "Aravot" newspaper reported, "The press conference was very short and journalists were unable to receive an explanation from Fried about the statement he made in Azerbaijan that the Unites States hopes for the quick return of Azerbaijanis to their native lands." "Haykakan Zhamanak," a tabloid newspaper, published an article that stated, "The other day, while answering journalists' questions, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsian did not want to believe that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried made encouraging statements SIPDIS about Baku regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. These remarks were distributed by the Azerbaijani press. Yesterday, during the press conference, journalists were unable to find out from Fried whether the articles written in the Azerbaijani press were true." Iravunk, an opposition newspaper, claimed, "The good mood of the U.S. officials, which was a result of their meetings in Baku, most probably disappeared yesterday after their meetings with Armenian officials. ...[The] optimistic ideas expressed in Baku were not evident at yesterday's press conference." -------------- -------------- FRIED SAYS U.S. "LOOKING HARD" AT ENERGY DIVERSIFICATION -------------- -------------- ¶4. The media reported on Fried's comments regarding energy diversification in Armenia. "Armenpress," a government- owned news agency, published a report entitled, "Daniel Fried Indicates U.S. Would Not Object to Construction of New Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia." The article discusses Fried's comment that, "Europe and the United States are looking hard again at the diversification of energy sources and obviously nuclear energy has to be looked at again in the light of the new situation we are in. I can't say at this point definitively how this debate will come out either in general or with respect to Armenia, but I did hear from the Armenian interlocutors expressions of interests in safe, commercially viable and secure nuclear energy and I am going to take that back to Washington and we will look at this." "Mediamax," an independent news agency, reported that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried would "carefully study Armenia's interest in 'new, safe, and commercially viable sources of nuclear energy.'" -------------- -------------- FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSES FRIED VISIT IN TV INTERVIEW -------------- -------------- ¶5. On March 16, Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian gave an interview to pro-government Armenian Second television station, during which he discussed his meeting with Fried. In response to a question about what issues he had discussed with the Assistant Secretary, Oskanian first mentioned the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact and its link to the country's democratization process. Oskanian stated, "The upcoming Millennium Challenge compact signing ceremony is of course utmost in everyone's mind. ...This is a very serious program that offers us the opportunity to make huge infrastructure improvements, and it is related directly to our democratization process." ¶6. Oskanian also cited energy issues and the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict as issues that he discussed with Fried, noting with regard to Nagorno-Karabakh, "Here the fundamental issue is that negotiations continue." In response to a question about President Aliyev's recent references to his country's military budget, Oskanian stated, "Today, in the civilized world, peoples and states do not compete over the size of their military budgets. ...Today, the spheres of competition are elsewhere. And in all those spheres, Armenia is ahead of Azerbaijan. ...There is no comparison in the level of democratic development, human rights protections, or press freedoms." EVANS