FM NALBANDIAN PREVIEWS ISSUES FOR WASHINGTON VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000564

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM OVIP KDEM KJUS TU AM
SUBJECT: FM NALBANDIAN PREVIEWS ISSUES FOR WASHINGTON VISIT

REF: YEREVAN 556

Classified By: CDA Joseph Pennington, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: CDA called on FM Eduard Nalbandian July 10
at the FM's request to compare issues to be raised during
Nalbandian's July 17 meeting with Secretary Rice and other
high-level meetings in Washington that week. Nalbandian
fenced with CDA in classic Soviet style on Armenia's
democracy problems, and was surprisingly curmudgeonly even on
the Turkey and Nagorno-Karabakh issues on which Armenia looks
relatively constructive at the moment. Nalbandian closed,
however, with an extended riff on his sincere desire to raise
U.S.-Armenian relations to a higher level. Nalbandian's
determination to speak in English despite his relative lack
of facility with it (English is his fifth language) seemed
something of a barrier, as we have had better meetings with
him in Armenian and Russian. END SUMMARY


2. (U) TRIP PLANNING: CDA and polchief met FM Nalbandian
and MFA Americas Director Armen Yeganian to compare notes on
the issues each side might wish to raise during his
Washington visit. In addition to Secretary Rice, Nalbandian
is slated to meet DNSA Jeffries, EUR A/S Fried and DAS Bryza,
MCC CEO Danilovich, and is seeking to confirm several
meetings on the Hill. He will also speak at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace. Nalbandian started by
soliciting CDA's input.


3. (C) DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS: CDA started with the
democratic reform agenda, noting that nothing the Secretary
raises should be surprising to Nalbandian. CDA also noted
that the July 3 meeting with President Sargsian (reftel) had
been very constructive and much appreciated. CDA commented
that the Secretary would want to review the same issues which
had figured in DRL A/S Kramer's recent visit. He emphasized
the problem of political prisoners as the most pressing of
several significant concerns on the democracy agenda. He
observed that, as an example, the case of former Armenian
foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian, looked very
troublesome. (NOTE: Arzumanian served as campaign chairman
for former President and opposition leader Levon
Ter-Petrossian's 2008 campaign. He is now being held in jail
on highly questionable charges of "usurpation of state power"
(with possible sentence of 10-15 years imprisonment) and
"provoking mass disorder" (6-12 years). END NOTE) Nalbandian
seized on CDA's offhand remark that Arzumanian's wife is an
American citizen to complain at length that no one's spouse's
citizenship could make them above the law, and to argue that
Arzumanian was a deceitful manipulator, who hid behind false
human rights claims. CDA commented that Arzumanian is only
one of a number of prominent opposition political figures
being held on highly questionable charges, for which no clear
evidence had been revealed. Nalbandian continued circling ad
nauseum around his uncompelling theme of Arzumanian's alleged
"political manipulation" under the guise of "human rights."
At one point, Nalbandian said he had had a hand in persuading
then-President Kocharian to free Arzumanian from jail in 2007
(when Arzumanian was held on questionable charges of money
laundering),having pointed out that the case made Armenia
look bad. However, Nalbandian hinted that Arzumanian was
guilty of many unspecified crimes. CDA pointed out that the
repeatedly extended pre-trial detention of Arzumanian, and
other senior opposition politicians, without any hint of
progress to the alleged investigations, created the
appearance of just locking up political rivals.


4. (C) POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES: CDA noted that we have
reported some positive political developments to Washington
as well, such as early successes in the new administration's
campaigns to reform the tax and customs authorities, replace
some problematic senior officials with more highly regarded
faces, and combat corruption. He mentioned that such moves
improved the government's image and credibility with its own
public. Nalbandian agreed. CDA commended the fact that
government-controlled media have done better over the last
few months in airing opposition political figures and
viewpoints, though this had not yet been matched by
structural change to eliminate the government's dominance of
the media sector. CDA called for restoring the television
license for the pro-oppositional A1 Plus television network,
particularly in light of the recent European Court for Human
Rights ruling that Armenian authorities had improperly
revoked the license in 2002.


5. (C) TALKING TURKEY: CDA praised President Sargsian's
initiative to invite Turkish President Gul to Armenia for the

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World Cup match, and his other overtures to Turkey. He also
spoke favorably of the president's constructive approach to
Nagorno Karabakh negotiations. Nalbandian commented that
Armenia is ready to "turn the page" and normalize its Turkey
relationship, but grumped that Ankara must be in that mood as
well. He emphasized that Armenia is ready to move forward
promptly, and expressed disappointment that FM Babacan was
not willing to meet sooner than UNGA. Nalbandian commented
that as neighbors, it should be easy for the two FMs to meet
at any time. He opined that the U.S. should push the Turkish
side harder. CDA said Embassy Ankara had told us President
Sargsian's invitation had been received positively by Turkish
officials, but that the political currents swirling in Ankara
right now may mean the GOT will not be able to respond to the
invitation until closer to the September event. CDA said
that "the goal is to get to 'yes' but it might take a bit of
time. Nalbandian harrumphed that he could hardly see how
that Turkish side could say no to the invitation. CDA
praised President Sargsian's op-ed statement in the Wall
Street Journal Europe calling for a new relationship with
Turkey, and hailed the piece as a constructive gesture from
Sargsian. Nalbandian grumbled that, of course, the president
cannot be expected to make such statements every day -- a non
sequitor, as no such suggestion had been made. CDA replied
that with President Sargsian's recent gestures Armenia had
done its part to open a good faith dialogue, and the next
step should be with Turkey to respond.


6. (C) NAGORNO KARABAKH: Nalbandian affirmed the NK issue as
"very important" to Armenia. He said the two presidents'
meeting in St. Petersburg had showed "some positive signs,"
but following that meeting, the Azerbaijanis had showed
themselves not to be in any hurry. He said that the Minsk
Group Co-Chairs had wanted promptly to schedule a Foreign
Ministers' meeting, and that he had been ready to meet right
away, but Mammadyarov had been unavailable on any of the
dates proposed over the next three months. Mammadyarov had
eventually proposed meeting on the margins of the UNGA,
Nalbandian claimed, which he felt showed a lack of
seriousness from the Azerbaijani side. He pointed out that
the Azerbaijani election is in October, so postponing any
meeting until late September at the UNGA in effect means
postponing any real progress until after that election.
Nalbandian also reiterated President Sargsian's complaints
(reftel) about Baku officials' January remarks about the
negotiating process and Madrid document, which he called
destructive. He stressed that he is ready to meet anywhere,
any time, to advance the negotiations.


7. (C) NEW U.S. AMBASSADOR: Nalbandian mentioned that he
looks forward to having a new ambassador confirmed, and
recalled that he had made statements in support of the need
for a confirmed ambassador. He said he would make similar
statements during his Washington meetings, including on the
Hill. CDA said that it would be good for Senators to hear
the Armenian government's perspective on the desirability of
getting an ambassador at post.


8. (C) OTHER BUSINESS: CDA mentioned our disappointment
with a recent "Golos Armenii" ("Voice of Armenia") editorial
which again accused the United States of fomenting revolution
in Armenia, this time through the mechanism of the USAID
anti-corruption project. This was especially disappointing
since this newspaper was considered close not only to the
government but specifically to President Sargsian, and we
would be concerned if this were a bellwether. Missing the
latter point, Nalbandian launched into a general lament of
the low quality of newspapers in Armenia, but said he would
speak to the Golos Armenii editor. CDA also mentioned the
Prosecutor General's recent oddball remark -- renewing a
message he had used some months ago -- that Levon
Ter-Petrossian and his team had "hypnotized" the crowds into
supporting him, using "neuro-linguistic techniques." CDA
commented that this theory is seen in the West as just nutty,
and raises questions as to the legal reasoning that Armenia's
top law enforcement officer was bringing to the pending court
cases against Ter-Petrossian supporters. Nalbandian put this
down to a "poetic mood" on the part of the Prosecutor
General. More generally, Nalbandian closed by emphasizing
his desire to boost the level of U.S.-Armenian relations, and
especially to improve the public perception of the United
States in Armenia. CDA and the FM agreed to think more about
ways to do this in the future.

9.. (C) COMMENT -- PROTESTING TOO MUCH: The most striking
thing about this meeting was the surprisingly sour tone
Nalbandian evinced, even on subjects on which Armenia has a

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good story to tell. Most notably on Turkey, Nalbandian ought
to be happily taking credit for the new Sargsian overtures,
and projecting success. Instead, he seemed grudging and
pessimistic about the prospect for his own government's
strategy. He was the same on Azerbaijan. In both cases, he
seemed eager to blame the other side even before it has
become clear that there is some fault to criticize. His
apologias for Armenia's democratic performance were similarly
defensive and unenlightening. One reason, perhaps, was that
Nalbandian seemed often to have to focus too much attention
on constructing his English sentences at the expense of
content. It might have been a somewhat better meeting in
Russian or Armenian. Whatever the reason, Nalbandian's
responses were alternately defensive and overly pessimistic
on the key issues of importance to the United States. That
said, we do not yet have the sense that Nalbandian is a real
player on the issue of Turkish-Armenian relations. It seems
that Deputy FM Kirakossian is reporting directly to the
president on this matter, so Nalbandian's gloomy outlook may
not be determinative of Armenian policy decisions.
PENNINGTON