ARMENIAN MPS REJECT PUBLIC TV'S CALL TO END

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000481 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CARC, EUR/PPD E.O. 12958; N/A TAGS: PGOV OPRC AM KMDR KPAO SUBJECT: ARMENIAN MPS REJECT PUBLIC TV'S CALL TO END PARLIAMENT BROADCASTS Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) At a March 4 press conference, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Artur Baghdasarian announced that NA leaders decided to reject calls by Chairman of Armenian Public TV and Public Radio Aleksan Harutiunian to abolish a law requiring Public TV to broadcast National Assembly sessions. Opposition leaders decried Harutiunian's move to end this law as an attempt to deny them their only regular opportunity to broadcast their views on national television. In a meeting with Harutiunian, Ambassador Evans stressed that fair and unbiased media are essential to Armenia's compliance with the Millennium Challenge Corporation indicators. MPs from both the opposition and the governing coalition opposed the move by Harutiunian, representing a rare joining of forces in defense of free speech. MPs from the Republican and Armenian Revolutionary Federation also used the occasion to continue recent criticism of fellow coalition-member Artur Baghdasarian. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- PUBLIC TV CITES LOW RATINGS AND EUROPEAN STANDARDS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) At the end of February, Aleksan Harutiunian, the Chairman of Public TV and Public Radio, began calling for the abolishment of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure requirement that Public TV broadcast the "Parliament Week" television program every Sunday at 21:00. At first citing low ratings for his move to end the broadcasts, in March Harutiunian began claiming that the reason he wanted to abolish the law was that it was not in line with European standards for press freedom. (Note: The AGB Nielson ratings Harutiunian cited actually show that, on average, "Parliament Week" has the highest ratings compared with programs aired by other stations at the same day and at the same time. End Note.) -------------- THE OPPOSITION CRIES FOUL -------------- ¶3. (U) Opposition figures claimed that Harutiunian, who is a close associate of President Kocharian, was attempting to deprive them of their only opportunity to broadcast their views on television, as Armenian television channels are strongly influenced by the government and rarely provide air time to opposition leaders. Armenia Liberty quoted Arshak Sadoyan of the opposition Justice bloc as stating, "Everything is being done to further limit the opposition's ability to appear on television." In an interview with "168 Zham" newspaper on March 16, Harutiunian denied that his recommendation was related to depriving the opposition of broadcast time, noting, "Neither the President nor I is planning on running in the upcoming elections." -------------- -------------- AMBASSADOR STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF FAIR AND UNBIASED MEDIA -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) On March 21, Ambassador Evans met with Harutiunian to express concern about Public TV's move to end broadcasts of NA sessions. The Ambassador stressed that fair and unbiased media were essential to Armenia's compliance with the Millennium Challenge Corporation indicators, and attempts to block the opposition's access to the broadcast media could threaten Armenia's receipt of MCC funds. -------------- -------------- MPS JOIN FORCES IN SUPPORT OF FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS -------------- -------------- ¶5. (SBU) At an April 4 press conference, NA Speaker Artur Baghdasarian announced that, in order to avoid opposition claims of biased media coverage in advance of upcoming elections, NA leaders decided to reject Harutiunian's move to end Parliament broadcasts. According to RFE/RL, Baghdasarian commented, "Considering that this is a pre- election year and that various kinds of speculations, whether justified or unjustified, could be made, we unanimously decided to keep things unchanged." MPs from both the coalition and the opposition supported this decision. "Noyan Tapan Highlights," a pro-opposition English-language weekly, quoted Galust Sahakian, Head of the Republican Party Faction of the governing coalition, as stating that he finds the proposal "acceptable in general," but not "in the current pre-election period." According to A1-Plus, a pro-opposition news agency, Secretary of the opposition Justice Bloc Victor Dallakian also supported the decision, stating that the attempt to end the NA broadcasts was a "continuation of the closure of A1-Plus." -------------- -------------- COALITION USES OCCASSION TO CRITICIZE BAGHDASARIAN -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Coalition MPs also used this occasion to criticize NA Speaker Artur Baghdasarian for the poor quality of "Parliament Week" and for allowing his Orinats Yerkir party to monopolize the program. A1-Plus quoted Galust Sahakian as stating, "Society can see that the program is one-sided: it has turned into a monologue [by Artur Baghdasarian]." A1- Plus also cited Armenian Revolutionary Federation Secretary Hrayr Karapetyan as expressing a negative attitude towards "Parliament Week," quoting him as noting that the NA discusses the content of the program each week, "but it has improved only a little." ¶7. (SBU) Comment: The agreement of both opposition and coalition representatives was a rare instance when MPs from across the political spectrum joined forces in support of an environment conducive to free and fair elections. End Comment. EVANS