US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN2018

UNCLAS YEREVAN 002018 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, MOPS, PREL, IZ, AM 
SUBJECT:  PRESIDENT SIGNS ON TO ARMENIAN-POLISH JOINT 
PARTICIPATION IN IRAQ--BUT AT WHAT DOMESTIC COST? 
 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
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ARMENIAN-POLISH SECURITY COOPERATION AGREEMENT 
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1. (SBU) On September 6, Armenian President Robert 
Kocharian signed a security cooperation agreement with 
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski which will lay 
the groundwork for the deployment to Iraq of 50 
Armenian non-combat troops with Polish forces.  George 
Kocharian, Head of the Military-Political Cooperation 
Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed 
that the GOAM intends to deploy mostly transport 
personnel, trucks, a few de-miners, and three doctors. 
He noted that the GOAM wanted to act in unity with 
Europe and shoulder an adequate amount of the burden so 
that Armenia would truly be part of the European 
"club."  A newspaper associated with the defense 
ministry reasoned that deployment to Iraq would 
significantly improve U.S./Armenian relations and 
offset the "advantage" Azerbaijan currently enjoys in a 
more favorable relationship with the U.S. 
 
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OPPOSITION JUMPS ON THE ISSUE 
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2. (SBU) Several Armenian opposition newspapers raised 
concerns that deployment to Iraq could harm Armenia's 
relationship with Russia, and the (frequently less-than- 
reliable) opposition newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak used 
the opportunity to take aim at Minister of Defense, 
Serzh Sargsian.  In an uncharacteristically pro-Russian 
stance, the paper repeated Russian newspaper 
accusations that Sargsian had "betrayed" Russia, and 
the quoted a disaffected general who disagreed with 
deployment, supposedly speaks with the authority of the 
Russian military general staff, but who has more 
authority than his "illegitimate supreme commander." 
The opposition, which has often hailed the Council of 
Europe and Western-supported NGOs during human rights' 
disputes, now seems ready to exploit pro-Russian biases 
in order to embarrass the Kocharian government. 
EVANS