US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN774

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000774 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR-STHIBEAULT, EUR/PPD-MLOGSDON AND 
SRUEDY, EUR/CACEN-ESIDEREAS, EUR, EUR/ACE, EUR/SNEC, 
EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958; N/A 
TAGS: KMDR, OPRC, PGOV, PREL, KPAO, AM 
SUBJECT: REACTION FROM YEREVAN, ARMENIA: AFTER THE 
VISIT OF DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD ARMITAGE 
 
1.  SUMMARY: After the visit of Deputy Secretary of 
State Richard Armitage to Armenia all mass media widely 
covered his meetings and press conference held in 
Yerevan.  Following his visit to Azerbaijan, some 
Armenian newspapers published editorials discussing the 
Armitage visit to the region and U.S. interests in the 
region in general.  The following is the summary of 
those articles. END SUMMARY 
 
ARMITAGE AVOIDED MEETING WITH ARMENIAN OPPOSITION 
 
2. Radical oppositionist Armenian language newspaper of 
the "Constitutional Right" Union IRAVUNK (03/30) 
discusses the Armitage visit in the light of U.S 
interests and concern regarding the countries he 
visited as opposed to Russia's interests in the same 
countries.  "The signs of a clash between two 
superpowers are becoming obvious in Ukraine, Armenia 
and Azerbaijan.  The visit of Deputy Secretary of State 
Richard Armitage to these countries should probably be 
viewed in this light.  In the elections to be held in 
Ukraine in October Moscow and Washington are supporting 
leaders from two opposite fronts."  "The confrontation 
will become more severe in the countries of the 
Caucasus region, which will acquire the status of a 
transit zone for the upcoming ten to fifteen years. 
The main arena for this confrontation will be our 
region, then Central Asia.  The main obstacle for the 
implementation of western programs is the lack of 
settlement of certain ethnic problems in the South 
Caucasus.  According to experts in Russia and in the 
West, this primarily refers to the Karabakh conflict, 
which is the reason for the failure of several 
geopolitical programs to be implemented in the region. 
According to certain information, currently being 
checked, this was the reason for the Armitage visit to 
the South Caucasus, where he wanted to meet with the 
leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan and find out about 
their inclination and their willingness for a quick 
resolution of the conflict.  According to the same 
sources, Richard Armitage was very satisfied with the 
position of official Yerevan, while strongly displeased 
with the destructive position of Ilham Aliyev. 
Observers believe that this was the reason why Armitage 
held meetings with the Azeri opposition while he 
avoided meeting with the Armenian opposition." 
 
WASHINGTON UNHAPPY WITH AZERI STATEMENTS ON KARABAKH 
 
3. Pro-government GOLOS ARMENII (03/30) published a 
front-page article discussing possible reasons for the 
Armitage visit to the region.  "Deputy Secretary 
Richard Armitage arrived in Baku on the 26th of March 
immediately after his official visit to Yerevan. 
However, until March 29 there were very few reports 
from Baku covering the visit of the high-ranking 
official from the White House.  Furthermore, it was 
noted that of the three capitals visited by Armitage at 
the end of March - Kiev, Yerevan, Baku - Baku was the 
one with the highest priority.  It should be noted that 
regional visits of this category involving high-ranking 
officials such as Richard Armitage do not happen very 
often.  Usually this means that, given the expected 
developments, Washington prefers to get first hand 
information from the region despite the fact that U.S. 
Embassies in the countries concerned are providing the 
Administration with relevant information.  The last 
visit of a U.S. Deputy Secretary to Armenian was in 
1999. Then-Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott visited 
Armenia because at that time it seemed that there were 
real opportunities for resolution of the Karabakh 
conflict.  We think that now things stand differently. 
Prior to the visit of R. Armitage Assistant Secretary 
Elizabeth Jones mentioned that the Karabakh issue would 
be the cornerstone of the talks, and then she made a 
minor but very essential addition:  `Official 
Washington is interested in knowing what the priorities 
of the new president and the government of Azerbaijan 
are'."   "Apparently the White House is not happy with 
recent statements by Ilham Aliyev, which to some extent 
are disturbing for the international community." 
 
WALKER