GOVERNMENT COMPLAINTS FOLLOW MEDIA FUROR OVER U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000333

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2019
TAGS: PREL EAID PGOV KPAO KMDR AJ AM
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT COMPLAINTS FOLLOW MEDIA FUROR OVER U.S.
AID BUDGET AND MILITARY AID TO AZERBAIJAN

Classified By: Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch. Reasons 1.4 (b/d)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) Repeating Diaspora lobby group talking points,
Armenian media have produced a barrage of stories lambasting
the alleged 38 percent cut in U.S. assistance to Armenia for
FY 2010, and noting that the Administration requested more
military assistance funding for Azerbaijan than for Armenia.
Some media linked Armenians' disapppointment over the budget
request to President Obama's April 24 statement that failed
to label the 1915 massacres as "genocide," and implied an
emerging anti-Armenian tilt in the new Administration.
During the May 13 U.S.-Armenia Task Force (USATF) meeting,
Deputy Foreign Minister Kirakossian raised these concerns
officially, noting that the succession of negative messages
from Washington comes at a sensitive time in regional
negotiations. The USG side at USATF noted that the
President's statement and the budget proposals are unrelated,
but the GOAM asserted that their close timing makes them
appear to be coordinated. Officials claim that these events,
combined with President Aliyev's 2 billion USD defense budget
and bellicose rhetoric, plus the linkage that Turkey insists
on between the Turkey-Armenia normalization process and
Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations are creating a serious
political problem for the Government. END SUMMARY.

REDUCED AID REQUEST A SIGN OF REDUCED STATUS?
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2. (C) During the final session of the U.S.-Armenia Task
Force meeting on May 13, Deputy Foreign Minister Arman
Kirakossian raised the GOAM's concern that the
Administration's FY 2010 budget request is 38 percent lower
than the actual appropriated assistance in FY 2009. The GOAM
indicated that it perceives the President's choice not to use
the term "genocide" in his April 24 statement commemorating
Armenian Remembrance Day, as well as higher amounts of
military-related assistance proposed for Azerbaijan, as signs
of a possible change in the new Administration's orientation
toward Armenia. Kirakossian said that the combined effect of
these events has created a political problem for the GOAM,
even though the Government recognizes that the assistance
issue will ultimately be resolved in the U.S. Congress. The
GOAM asserted that the President's statement, combined with
the budget proposals and the perceived slowdown in progress
toward Turkey-Armenia normalization due to linkage with the
N-K negotiations, also created the perception that the USG is
siding with Azerbaijan, or might not be a credible honest
broker in the Minsk Group process.

3. (C) Assistance Coordinator Rosenblum replied that while
the USG understands the concern about perception, the
assistance request is purely a technical issue, with budget
numbers having been formulated months ago. While the timing
may be unfortunate, there is no connection between the budget
request and recent events or the President's April 24
statement. The Ambassador noted that the budget proposal on
military assistance reflects USG priorities in the Caspian
region, where the United States is cooperating with the GOAJ.
The constructive way to use this issue, she said, is to look
for ways to enhance military cooperation between the USG and
the GOAM, rather than to allow the issue of parity in
military assistance to become an annual irritant.
Kirakossian indicated that the GOAM would be open to such
cooperation.


4. (U) The media furor broke out in response to a local
Armenian-American political lobby group representative's May
8 press conference, as the complete spectrum of Armenian
media outlets uncritically published the lobby talking points
as fact: a 38 percent cut and the break in "parity" with
Azerbaijan on FMF/IMET funding in Azerbaijan's favor, all
hyped as a crisis in U.S.-Armenian relations. There was no
mention of the "apples and oranges" nature of comparing the
Administration request for FY 2010 to the appropriated FY
2009 figure, nor did any news outlets provide historical
context on how the Washington budget and appropriations
process has played out on Armenian assistance funding over
recent years.

COMMENT
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5. (C) Armenian officials are aware of the
budgetary/appropriations processes in Washington, and that
the lobby groups are peddling a deeply misleading set of
facts, but at the same time can ill afford to be "soft" on
this issue now that it has become a public controversy.
Moreover, Armenian officials are not immune to the conspiracy
theory that the USG is coordinating an anti-Armenian policy.

YEREVAN 00000333 002 OF 002




6. (C) The Ambassador issued a letter to editors on May 13 to
correct the record on assistance and explain our budget
process. The letter was carried by most major outlets, and
has been noted at the MFA. We also have a public diplomacy
effort underway to highlight 20 years of U.S. assistance, and
have been invited by Armenian Public Radio to speak on these
issues next week, creating an opportunity to tell our side of
the story. Still, it will be an uphill battle, as the
Diaspora pulls out all the stops and the GOAM remains on the
defensive. End Comment.
YOVANOVITCH