TURKISH MP'S VISIT TO ARMENIA MARRED BY HEATED

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000819

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2016
TAGS: NATO PGOV PREL TU AM
SUBJECT: TURKISH MP'S VISIT TO ARMENIA MARRED BY HEATED
COMMENTS ON EVENTS OF 1915

Classified By: Amb. John M. Evans for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) A member of the Turkish parliament made Armenian news
June 13 when he got into a verbal scuffle with Armenian
National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosyan during a rare visit
to Armenia. Twenty parliamentarians visited Armenia June
12-14 on an information-gathering trip managed by the NATO
international staff. MP Vahit Erdem, vice president of the
NATO PA and one of three Turkish MPs in the group (the other
two being Faruk Unsal and Muharrem Karsli) said during a
closed meeting with the Speaker that there was no official
Ottoman government order to kill Armenians in 1915, and that
therefore, the events cannot be considered genocide.
Torosyan countered that Erdem had no right to assess the
events of 1915, nor to judge the countries that have
recognized them to be a genocide. The contretemps was the
subject of news reports by two media outlets, despite the
fact that delegation staffers cleared all journalists from
the room before the meeting took place. The same Turkish MP
also made heated comments about Armenian-Turkish relations
during a panel discussion with Armenian NGO representatives
held at the U.S. Embassy. End Summary.

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1915 COMES UP IN CONVERSATION
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2. (C) Vahit Erdem (Justice and Development Party/AKP) made
Armenian news June 13 when he got into a verbal scuffle with
Armenian National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosyan. Erdem
was one of the leaders of the NATO PA delegation that visited
Yerevan June 12-14 on a fact-finding mission. One of the
delegation's staffers characterized the group as "reasonably
educated generalists trying to broaden their knowledge." In
addition to their meeting with Torosyan, the parliamentarians
met with representatives of the OSCE, visited the MFA, the
National Security Service, the National Assembly and the MOD,
and attended two panel discussions with Armenian NGO
representatives at the U.S. Embassy.


3. (C) According to press reports corroborated by delegation
staffer Zachary Seldon, during the June 13 meeting with
Torosyan, the delegation presented the Speaker its draft
regional report, which said vaguely that international
supporters of Armenia had recognized the Armenian "genocide."
Torosyan suggested the language be changed to reflect
specifically that EU member-states and the European
Parliament had recognized the "genocide." After that, Erdem
said no genocide ever occurred, that there was never an
official order to kill Armenians, and that the Armenians,
egged on by the Russians, had "attacked the Turks first."
Torosyan interrupted Erdem, and said that, as a member of an
international delegation, Erdem had no right to assess the
events of 1915, nor to judge the countries that had
recognized them to be a genocide. According to the group's
interpreter, who is known to Post as a reliable source,
Torosyan kept his cool throughout the exchange. Some members
of the NATO-PA delegation reportedly shared Torosyan's
sentiment and later criticized Erdem for taking a national
position while acting in his role as a leading member of an
international delegation. Seldon noted privately that the
parliamentarian had stepped clearly beyond the bounds
appropriate to his position in the delegation.

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ANTI-TURKISH STORY LEAKED TO PRESS
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4. (C) The exchange was reported June 14 in the state-run
newspaper Hayastani Hanrapetutiun (Armenian Republic),and in
Regnum, an online Russian-language media outlet. Seldon
noted that there were four journalists in the meeting room
before the meeting began, but that they had complied with his
request to leave. He said he was dismayed that the story had
leaked out, and noted that no other members of the Armenian
National Assembly were present at the meeting. It is unclear
whether Torosyan had any aides with him during the meeting.


5. (C) Erdem also became heated during one of the panel
discussions with Armenian NGO representatives that took place

at the U.S. Embassy June 12. During the discussion, Armenian
Atlantic Association Executive Director Tevan Poghosyan,
whose NGO aims to foster better understanding among Armenians
of NATO's mission and activities, accused Turkey of accepting
the status quo of Armenian-Turkish relations, rather than
working to normalize them. Erdem countered that Turkey was
doing everything in its power to normalize relations. The
rest of the delegation remained somewhat awkwardly silent.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) It is rare that Turkish officials visit Armenia, and
the atmospherics vary by case. Turkish Ambassador Daryal
Batibay was here a year ago with the Council of Europe's "Ago
Group" and there was no contretemps of any kind. But it is
not only the visitors who vary case by case. Former National
Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian spoke often and with
conviction about the need for Armenia to "get aboard the
train to Europe that is Turkey," rather than "lying on the
tracks in front of it." He boasted of his relationship with
his Turkish opposite number, with whom he claimed to be
planning to move relations forward through
intra-Parliamentary contacts. Baghdasarian is now out of the
Speakership, and it remains to be seen whether Torosyan, who
lacks as yet the broad international contacts cultivated by
his predecessor and has a much less outgoing persona, will be
willing or able to use his new office to good effect on the
frustratingly unhappy state of Turkish-Armenian relations.
The exchange of invective reported above probably will not
encourage the new Armenian Speaker to reach out to his
Turkish counterparts, at least in the short run. END COMMENT.

EVANS