SARGSIAN BLOGS WITH ARMENIAN PUBLIC, DENIES JOB

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000302

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, NSC FOR MARIA GERMANO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2018
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM ASEC AM
SUBJECT: SARGSIAN BLOGS WITH ARMENIAN PUBLIC, DENIES JOB
SWAP WITH KOCHARIAN


YEREVAN 00000302 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Joseph Pennington, reasons 1.4 (b/d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Although the events described herein are some four
weeks old, we believe there is still value in sharing them on
the eve of President-elect Sargsian,s inauguration. They
reflect an interesting attempt on his part to reach out to
the Armenian public, using some of the same tools heretofore
used primarily by the opposition. We will be interested to
see whether he continues to try novel approaches to win over
the public after he takes office.

2.(C) In one of a string of public outreach efforts taken in
the wake of Armenia's disputed presidential election and
post-election violence, President-elect Serzh Sargsian on
March 10 created an internet blog wherein he invited
compatriots to post questions and comments. On March 13,
Sargsian answered approximately 80 of the 3,000 blog postings
in a two-hour-long taped interview that Armenia's public TV
showed in its entirety. During the interview, Sargsian
professed his readiness for dialogue with Levon
Ter-Petrossian (LTP) if LTP recognized his victory, defended
the authorities' actions on March 1, and ruled out a rumored
job swap with outgoing President Robert Kocharian. Public
reaction to the blog initiative was mixed, with viewers
generally skeptical of its impact and critical of Sargsian's
response on some questions. END SUMMARY.

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PRESIDENT-ELECT TAKES MESSAGE TO BLOGOSPHERE
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3. (SBU) In an effort to engage the Armenian public after the
March 1-2 violence between protesters and SECURITY services
that left at least eight dead, President-elect Serzh Sargsian
created a blog journal on March 10 to which he invited
compatriots to post questions and comments to his address.
In the space of four days, the blog received approximately
3,000 entries, 80 of which Sargsian answered in a taped
interview with four moderators on March 13 which Armenia's
public TV showed in its entirety after the nightly news
program.


4. (SBU) The blog was one of several outreach forays that the
Prime Minister initiated in the two weeks following the
lethal clashes. He visited some of the protesters who were
injured in the clashes; held a meeting with small and medium
enterprises to field questions on the events and their impact
on business; met with university students for a question and
answer session; wrote a guest editorial to the Washington
Post with presidential rival and now coalition government
cohort Artur Baghdassarian; and held a COUNCIL of Government
meeting on March 6 at which he said the GOAM shared some of
the blame for the violent events. (NOTE: Prior to the
election, Sargsian had hired an English firm to advise him on
public relations. It is unclear whether he's retained the
firm in the post-election period. END NOTE.)


5. (SBU) Entries posted on Sargsian's blog included a wide
range of comments and questions, from supportive to critical
to neutral. The supportive included words of
support/congratulations; exhortations for Sargsian to restore
order in the country and arrest LTP; complaints/requests to
address corruption, monopolies, unemployment, and low
salaries and pensions. The critical included the handling of
March 1 events, stolen elections, "raising a hand" on his own
nation, corruption, appointment of governmental officials
based on clan loyalties, denouncing of oligarchy,
socio-economic issues, and the crackdown on the opposition.
The politically neutral entries included concerns about
unemployment, the country's economic situation, independence
of the courts, personal business and property issues, the
increasing costs of education, high taxes, and rising
consumer prices. (COMMENT: Remarkably, many unpleasant
questions were left posted on the blog and subsequently posed
during the TV interview. It did not appear that the
President-elect or his STAFF had meddled to pre-arrange the
selection of the questions during the interview. Indeed,
Sargsian answered some rather unsavory queries. END
COMMENT.)

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KEY PRONOUCEMENTS
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6. (SBU) Some of the key pronouncements made by
President-elect Sargsian during the broadcast were as follows
(direct quotations are denoted by parentheses):

-- On dialogue with LTP: Sargsian said he is ready for
dialogue, but only if LTP recognizes his election victory.
("If Levon Ter-Petrossian continues to claim that he was
elected president with 65 percent of the vote, rejects the
decision of the Constitutional Court, and calls me bandit and
Mongol-Tartar, what kind of dialogue can we have?")

-- On the authorities' role in March 1-2 events: Sargsian
assured viewers that no order was issued to disperse
protesters in Freedom Square, saying he did "everything
possible" to avoid loss of life. ("There was no order to
disperse the oppositionists rallying at Freedom Square.") If
police had planned to disperse the crowd, he maintained, they
would have been prepared, while the fact that policemen
suffered injuries proved otherwise (i.e., they weren't
prepared). Sargsian vowed that police had gone to the square
only to check whether demonstrators possessed weapons, and
reacted the way they did only when discovering that
protesters were indeed armed. He also denied that Armenia's
army had been inappropriately used during the state of
emergency. ("We have never used the army for political
purposes.") He acknowledged that preventing the clashes
represented a failure for the authorities. ("But we failed
to prevent it, which makes us responsible for what happened.")

-- On a possible job swap with outgoing President Kocharian:
He put these rumors definitively to rest, at least for now.
("Robert Kocharian and I are so honest that if such a
scenario had been possible, we would have told this before
the election the way that Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Dmitriy Medvedev did.") He also tried to distance
himself, at least rhetorically, from President Kocharian.
("My opinion does not always coincide with the opinion of
President Kocharian.")

-- On intentions to reform Armenia (crime/corruption):
Sargsian promised to "root out crime in Armenia." He also
promised to combat bribery and corruption in the judiciary.
("I promise everybody that we will support all people wishing
to expose bribe-takers.")

-- On the composition of Armenia's future government after he
becomes president: While Sargsian refuted assertions that
his current cabinet is tainted, and said he had no reason to
be ashamed of any of his appointments, he promised not to
appoint new people to the government who have a bad
reputation among the people.

-- On the decision of Deputy Defense Minister and now
recently dismissed ex-General Manvel Grigorian to support
LTP: Sargsian expressed regret and hurt that his former
comrade-in-arms in the war for Nagorno-Karabakh had engaged
in politics. (General Manvel Grigorian ". . .for some reason
decided to become involved in politics and not to obey his
supreme commander.")

-- On the future of the opposition in NATIONAL and local
politics: Sargsian took pains to assure viewers that the
opposition would have a voice under his administration. ("We
intend to amend legislation and amend certain guarantees for
a parliamentary minority.") He also declared that the
opposition's electorate could take active part in coming
elections of local authorities across Armenia.

-- On media issues: He tried to assuage the public's
concerns about a perceived pro-government media bias. He
said he was concerned that people trusted rumors and
information from the Internet more than information broadcast
on public and quasi-public TV (Armenia's H1 and H2 channels,
respectively). But he also said that communication with
people via the Internet was the best format in Armenia's
given situation. ("Today, the Internet is a strong mechanism
for shaping public opinion. That's why I have chosen this
format of communication." "This format allows people to ask
all kinds of questions and to remain unknown. This is the
best format in the present situation.")

-- On why he had not received congratulations from President
Bush: Sargsian maintained that the reason had to do with
post-election developments in Armenia, and not the election
itself. Sargsian noted that the State Department had agreed
with the assessment of international observers, who qualified

YEREVAN 00000302 003.2 OF 003


the presidential election as being mostly in line with
international standards. Sargsian also claimed that
President Bush had congratulated him after his appointment as
Prime Minister in 2006, which was not typical for a first
person of a country to congratulate the second person of
another country.

-- On the personal issues front: He dismissed a question
referencing his reputed fondness for gambling. ("No, I am
not a gambler.") He also flatly rejected rumors that he owns
a share in big businesses in Armenia.

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REACTIONS MIXED, LARGELY CYNICAL
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7. (C) When Poloff surveyed contacts on the blog initiative,
he heard mixed reactions, with the majority being cynical.
Some didn't watch the interview, refusing in principle to
watch public TV because of its lopsided bias toward the
ruling regime. Some welcomed the initiative, saying it was
important for Sargsian to speak to the public after the March
1-2 events, but were simultaneously put off by his peremptory
manner in answering some of the questions. Some said it was
farcical, forcing them to wince when observing some of
Sargsian's answers and awkward mannerisms.


8. (C) Alla Bakunts, an experienced political observer who
used to work in the political-economic section and now works
for the local UN office, found it difficult to watch as
Sargsian grew visibly upset with some of the frank questions
posed. She said his tense body language and palpable
displeasure with some of the questions posed by the four
moderators forced some of the latter to preface their
questions with excuses and apologies before asking some
questions. Contacts from a local USAID implementer told
Poloff they found it disgraceful how the uncharismatic
Sargsian peremptorily answered questions with "It's a lie"
and other short-fused, testy answers. Others found it
farcical how he answered some questions, including his
explanation why he had not yet received congratulations from
President Bush. (NOTE: Sargsian apparently shrugged it off,
saying he had received congratulations from the White House
when he became prime minister in 2006, implying he had
already received official blessings from Washington prior to
the disputed presidential election. END NOTE.)

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COMMENT
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9. (C) While we commend the intended spirit behind the blog,
and note that it was this medium which opposition supporters
used to circumvent the media blockade imposed by the state of
emergency, the time for conciliatory words has well passed.
In conversations with the President-elect, his staff, and
unofficial representatives, we have urged bold moves to
address the divisions that the election exposed and worsened.
Our exhortations appear to have fallen on deaf ears,
however, as the disconnect between Sargsian's words on one
hand, and the post-election crackdown on the other, continues
to widen.
PENNINGTON