Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08YEREVAN315
2008-04-10 13:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

ARMENIA'S PRESDENTIAL INAUGURATION: SERZH STANDS

Tags:  PGOV KDEM AM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO8657
PP RUEHLMC
DE RUEHYE #0315/01 1011306
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 101306Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7381
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 1566
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 0677
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000315 

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NSC FOR MARIA GERMANO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA'S PRESDENTIAL INAUGURATION: SERZH STANDS
ALONE


Classified By: CDA JOSEPH PENNINGTON, REAONS 1.5(B,D)

------
SUMMARY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000315

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SIPDIS

NSC FOR MARIA GERMANO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/09/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA'S PRESDENTIAL INAUGURATION: SERZH STANDS
ALONE


Classified By: CDA JOSEPH PENNINGTON, REAONS 1.5(B,D)

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsian was sworn in as
Armenia's third president in a solemn ceremony in Yerevan's
opera house on April 9. Meanwhile, several thousand
opposition supporters laid flowers near the French Embassy in
honor of those killed in the authorities' March 1-2 crackdown
on post-election demonstrators. In a departure from past
inaugurations, the new president, standing alone at the top
of the stairs leading out from the opera, reviewed hundreds
of Armenian troops as they filed past on adjacent Freedom
Square, the site of 10 days of mass protests following the
February 19 election. Sargsian sent mixed messages in his
inaugural address, pledging to "build an Armenia based on
love and tolerance," while warning of the dangers of
"unchecked freedom." End summary.

--------------
INAUGURATION IMAGES -- IT'S LONELY AT THE TOP
--------------


2. (C) In a long-anticipated transition of authority, Serzh
Sargsian replaced Robert Kocharian as president of Armenia
April 9, in a ceremony winessed by most of Armenia's 131
parliamentarians and hundreds of other Armenian and foreign
dignitaries. EUR DAS Matthew Bryza, accompanied by CDA,
attended for the United States. Most European countries were
represented by their ambassadors accredited to Yerevan. The
Georgian Prime Minister was in attendance, as was the Deputy
Speaker of the Russian Duma and EU Special Representative for
the Caucasus Peter Semneby.


3. (C) The ceremony was highly ritualistic, solemn and
dignified, to the point that one close embassy contact
described it as "mournful." Once all the guests were seated,
projection screens on either side of the stage flashed images
of an utterly empty Freedom Square. In fact, all traffic --
both vehicle and pedestrian -- had been cleared for a
three-block area around the opera in the hours preceding the
ceremony, leaving the normally-bustling city center eerily
vacant. Moments later, a lone black Mercedes pulled up to
the entrance, and Sargsian got out -- alone -- and entered
the building as his long, red-carpet walk to the stage was

captured on the projection screens. After a series of
formalities, including the ceremonial placing of a
7th-century Armenian Bible and the Armenian constitution at
the podium, the President-elect recited the oath, apparently
from memory, and the transfer of power was complete.


4. (C) Seated behind a table on the left side of the stage,
the new President sat isolated from all other participants
throughout the cermony, except when he delivered his
inaugural address from the podium. When the ceremony was
completed, official guests were escorted to an upstairs hall
for a reception (which was not optional, as it was made clear
that no one could leave the building),while Sargsian exited
the opera to stand at the top of the stairs to review
hundreds of Armenian soldiers as they filed by in formation
across Freedom Square. Guests at the cocktail were riveted
by the striking image -- once again projected on TV screens
around the reception hall -- of President Sargsian standing,
alone and expressionless, as military marches and the sound
of soldiers marching rang out across the square that until
March 1 had been occupied by up to 50,000 opposition
supporters protesting the flawed vote on February 19. There
was not a single civilian onlooker anywhere -- a deeply
awkward visual for the nationwide television audience.

-------------- --------------
THE ADDRESS -- LOVE, TOERANCE, AND MAYBE A LITTLE FREEDOM
-------------- --------------


5. (U) The new President's inaugural address was full of
references to the hard-fought presidential campaign and its
violent afternmath, including veiled allusions to opposition
leader and former President Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP). The
tone of the address was generally conciliatory. Referring to
the presidential campaign as "intense, and not without
insults," Sargsian thanked "those who accepted their defeat
with dignity, and those who reciprocated the extended hand of
cooperation." He added that "we should not create divisions
between various parts of our nation, nor should we disregard

YEREVAN 00000315 002 OF 002


each other's concerns and pain." "If there is a wall of
misunderstanding between us," Sargsian continued, "I urge you
to join us in eliminating that wall." "We shall build an
Armenia where mutual respect, love, and tolerance will
prevail." The President pledged to contribute "all of my
strength so that an atmosphere of confidence prevails in our
society, and to overcome polarization and confrontation."


6. (U) Sargsian also spoke extensively about the issue of
freedom, but here the message was less uplifting. "Unchecked
freedom can result in conflict with the public interest and
the rights of others," Sargsian argued, adding that "to
prevnt such conflict the state may interfere with the
exercise of certain fundamental rights." "Limitations on
fundamental rights, however, cannot be absolute," he
conceded. Referring specifically to the question of freedom
of assembly, Sargsian promised to "strike a fair balance
between public order on the one hand, and the right to
peaceful assembly on the other." He concluded by pledging to
"revisit" the recently-passed law regulating peaceful
assembly "to safeguard everyone's right to peaceful assembly
in accordance with European standards." The new Presdent
made clear, however, that any revision "must preclude any
public event that is either not peaceful or does not pursue a
legitimate aim."

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


7. (C) To an American observer, inauguration day in Yerevan
was notable mostly for the complete absence of contact
between the new President and the people he claims to
represent. The strict measures taken by police to clear the
downtown area of ordinary citizens meant that no Armenians
(except the dignitaries who attended the ceremony) were
allowed even a glimpse of their new President, except on
television. There were no smiles, no handshakes, no waving
to a crowd. This impression can be chalked up at least in
part to cultural differences -- our Armenian staff tell us
that extreme solemnity is an expected and valued trait in
senior officials, and that American-style gladhanding could
be perceived as a lack of gravitas. Neither LTP nor former
President Kocharian were especially comfortable with people,
and their inauguration ceremonies were in many ways similar
to what we saw yesterday. Cultural differences aside,
however, we cannot help but perceive this as a missed
opportunity for Sargsian. Every aspect of the inaugural
events -- the deliberate physical isolation of the President,
his wooden and unsmiling delivery, and his decision to
include the military -- will only reinforce his public image
as cold, distant, weak, and overly reliant on the security
services.


8. (C) The unprecedented review of military units on Freedom
Square will likely be viewed as a direct affront and warning
to LTP and his supporters, and risks offending other
Armenians who associate the square with the heady days of
anti-Soviet protests and the Karabakh movement of the late
1980s. Armenians have long memories, and the sight of boots
marching on the square -- in direct contradiction to the
soaring rhetoric on love and tolerance in Sargsian's speech
-- will not be forgotten anytime soon. The new President's
take on freedom, which he apparently views as a threat to be
contained rather than an ideal to be pursued, bodes ill for
true efforts toward political reconciliation and a healing of
the wounds of March 1.
PENNINGTON