KOCHARIAN ACCUSES BAGHDASSARIAN OF BETRAYAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000560 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM AM SUBJECT: KOCHARIAN ACCUSES BAGHDASSARIAN OF BETRAYAL REF: A) YEREVAN 522 B) YEREVAN 490 Classified By: CDA A. F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d). ¶1. (U) President Kocharian blasted opposition leader Artur Baghdassarian during an address to local university students on April 27, accusing him of "betrayal." "I don't want to use legal terms. For me, this is a real manifestation of betrayal," Kocharian told students at Yerevan State University, referring to the secretly-taped conversation between Baghdassarian and the British DCM (ref B). The president said that, despite the "hundreds of phone calls" from citizens wondering how "such a politician can participate in elections," the government would not take "tough action." Instead, "let every voter decide whether patriotism and dignity matter to them," he commented. Kocharian suggested that another opposition leader, Aram Karapetyan, might have been involved in the incident, as Karapetyan admitted to having a copy. Karapetyan has said that the CD recording of the conversation had been planted on his office doorstep. ¶3. (C) During our meeting with Kocharian, (Ref A) he had tried to point the finger of blame for the leaked recording at Baghdassarian's foreign policy aide, Tigran Mkrtchyan, who had been present during the conversation with the British DCM. Kocharian hypothesized that Mkrtchyan might be bitter about his low place on the party list -- with essentially no hope of winning a parliament seat -- after all the work he had done for the party. ¶4. (U) Baghdassarian hit back, telling reporters that "The traitors are all those who rig elections and disgrace the fatherland." He continued, "This is a violation of not only the constitution and laws but moral norms." GODFREY