KOCHARIAN DEAD SET AGAINST ATTENDING BSEC SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000788

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017
TAGS: PREL NATO OSCE TU AM
SUBJECT: KOCHARIAN DEAD SET AGAINST ATTENDING BSEC SUMMIT
IN ISTANBUL

REF: ANKARA 1506

Classified By: CDA A.F.Godfrey for reason 1.4 (b, d)


1. (C) On June 16, Charge raised the issue of Armenia's
attendance at the upcoming BSEC Summit with President
Kocharian. Kocharian said that there was "absolutely no way"
he would consider attending. In fact, he would have
preferred that FM Oskanian also skip the event, but relented
under Oskanian's persuasion. We made our arguments clearly:
the opportunity to take a step forward toward reconciliation
with Turkey was too important to miss; the meeting with the
other BSEC heads of state would be valuable for Armenia; the
BSEC venue should be exploited by Armenia to prevent further
isolation in the region. Kocharian said that identical
arguments were made by the U.S. and others in 1999 to
convince him to attend the OSCE Summit in Istanbul. He
allowed himself to be persuaded to attend, but relations with
Turkey had not progressed at all. As far as relations with
other BSEC states, he continued, Armenia has excellent
relations with all but two (meaning, of course, Turkey and
Azerbaijan),and attending this Summit would change nothing.

Comment
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2. (C) It seems clear to us that Kocharian cannot be
convinced that attending this Summit would be beneficial to
Armenia. As he approaches the end of his last term as
President, Kocharian seems to be becoming even less flexible
than he has been in the past. We regret that Armenia will
almost certainly not have appropriate representation at this
important regional event.
GODFREY