US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN615

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000615 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN; EUR/PRM; PM 
USNATO FOR POL 
SECDEF FOR ISP/NATO POLICY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, MARR, PARM, AM, AJ, NATO 
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN DEP DEFENSE MINISTER OFFERS COMPROMISE ON 
CBE 04 
 
Classified By: Ambassador John Ordway for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Armenian Deputy Defense Minister Artur 
Aghabekian informed DAO March 11 that Armenia is planning to 
send three officers to Baku in September 2004 to participate 
in NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) exercise Cooperative Best 
Effort 04 (CBE 04).  Aghabekian ruled out the possibility 
that Armenian officers would participate in the exercise as 
observers.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) Deputy Defense Minister Artur Aghabekian told DAO that 
he is aware of the domestic pressures the Azerbaijani 
government faces in allowing Armenian military officers to 
participate in any activity in Baku.  He noted that Armenia 
went through a similar process last year when Armenia hosted 
CBE 03.  As a condition of hosting the exercise, Armenia had 
to consent to Turkish and Azerbaijani participation in the 
exercise.  Although Azerbaijan declined to participate, 
Turkey sent a small contingent.  Aghabekian said that most 
Armenians were opposed to the Turkish presence in Armenia, 
but the GOAM worked to convince the Armenian society that 
Turkish participation would not harm Armenian interests and 
could also provide political benefits.  Aghabekian stated 
that he wants to see the Government of Azerbaijan begin to 
prepare its public for Armenian participation in CBE 04, and 
to reduce the anti-Armenian rhetoric in public discourse. 
 
3. (C) Aghabekian stated that Armenia's interest in 
participating in CBE 04 is not to humiliate Azerbaijan for 
allowing Armenian military officers to participate in 
exercises in Baku.  Armenia's objective is to pressure 
Azerbaijan to tone down the anti-Armenian rhetoric throughout 
Azerbaijani society.  Aghabekian claimed that the current 
atmosphere does not allow for progress in negotiations over 
Nagorno-Karabakh.  He said Armenia would like to get to the 
point where Azerbaijani society considers Armenia an 
"opponent" rather than an "enemy" (Note.  Aghabekian used the 
Russian words "protivnik" and "vrag", saying that one could 
work with an opponent but not with an enemy.  End Note.) 
Aghabekian believes that this process had a beneficial effect 
on Armenian society last year during preparations for CBE 03 
and would like to see a similar process occur in Azerbaijan 
this year. 
 
4.  (C) The GOAM continues to oppose sending the officers to 
Baku as observers rather than participants, since Armenia did 
not make such a demand on Turkey or Azerbaijan last year. 
GOAM officials argue that NATO should take an even-handed 
approach to the countries in the region.  The MOD would like 
to incorporate the Armenian officers into NATO's exercise 
staff, which would limit the visibility of the Armenian 
presence. 
 
5. (C) COMMENT: This proposal from the MOD appears to be the 
definitive response to the Azerbaijani offer of two 
observers.  If it is feasible for the Armenians to 
participate as part of the exercise staff, it strikes us that 
this is an attractive compromise that will allow the GOAM to 
claim that it is "participating" while allowing the GOAJ to 
claim that no Armenian unit is participating in the exercise. 
 The next steps appear to be (a) confirmation by NATO 
military authorities that three Armenians can be accommodated 
as part of the exercise staff, and (b) confirmation by Baku 
that this is an acceptable outcome.  END COMMENT 
 
ORDWAY