ENCOURAGING ARMENIAN PARTICIPATION AT BSEC SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 001414 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2017 TAGS: PREL TU AM AJ SUBJECT: ENCOURAGING ARMENIAN PARTICIPATION AT BSEC SUMMIT REF: ANKARA 1379 Classified By: DCM Nancy McEldowney, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 3. ¶2. (C) The June 25 BSEC Summit in Istanbul will be the flagship event of Turkey's BSEC Chairmanship, and the fifteenth anniversary of the organization. Apart from OSCE and Council of Europe, BSEC is the only multilateral forum in the region bringing together Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. MFA tells us President Aliyev will attend, but that Armenia is only expected to attend at the FM level. Armenia's permanent representation to BSEC, in Istanbul, is the only diplomatic channel between Armenia and Turkey. President Kocharian's attendance at the summit and Turkey's willingness to welcome him would send a signal that both countries are prepared to re-engage. ¶3. (C) ACTION REQUEST: With the aim of rekindling Turkish-Armenian dialogue, we encourage the Department to solicit President Kocharian's participation at the upcoming BSEC Summit on June 25 in Istanbul, and appropriately high-level participation at subsequent ministerials and working groups. ¶4. (U) Embassy Yerevan concurs with this action request. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON