US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN997

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000997 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN AND EUR/SNEC 
USNATO FOR UNDERWOOD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PARM, PGOV, PHUM 
SUBJECT: FM OSKANIAN ON ARMENIA'S CURRENT FOREIGN POLICY 
PRIORITIES 
 
REF: ANKARA 3032 
 
Classified By: DCM A.F.Godfrey for reason 1.4 (b, d) 
 
 Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (C) On June 2, FM Oskanian briefed Chiefs of Diplomatic 
Missions resident in Yerevan.  He characterized the May 17 
Warsaw meeting of Presidents Kocharian and Aliyev as 
"positive," with a critical step forward, but rejected 
Azerbaijan's assertion that Armenia had agreed to return all 
"occupied territories.  He lamented what he termed recent 
steps backward in Armenia-Turkey relations, including the 
cancellation by the GOT of a conference entitled "Ottoman 
Armenians " and the formal adoption of section 305 of the new 
penal code.  He discussed his busy travel schedule for the 
upcoming weeks, including presentation of Armenia's 
Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) to NATO and 
meetings in Washington.  End Summary. 
 
Armenia's Plans for UN Reform 
----------------------------- 
 
2.  (C) FM Oskanian's June 2 briefing for the diplomatic 
corps coincided with the end of the MFA's annual Chiefs of 
Mission Conference.  Oskanian introduced several Armenian 
Ambassadors who had not yet returned to their posts.  The FM 
said that in addition to the usual internal and logistics 
issues, UN reform was at the top of the agenda for the 
conference.  Oskanian announced that the MFA had come to a 
consensus position, which had still to be confirmed by 
President Kocharian.  On Security Council reform, Oskanian 
supported enlargement of both permanent and non-permanent 
membership.  Oskanian announced that Armenia had committed to 
supporting Japan, Germany and India for seats on the council, 
but remained "open for consultations" on the one South 
American and the two African seats.  Armenia remained 
hesitant on how to expand veto power, said Oskanian; if new 
Council members were to be granted a veto, Armenia would seek 
an "overwhelming majority" vote from the General Assembly. 
On reform of the Human Rights Commission, Armenia would 
support "upgrading" the HRC to the status of council, but 
would seek to keep membership at 53 members. 
 
"Critical Steps Forward" With Azerbaijan in Warsaw 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
3.  (C) Oskanian was frank in his description of the May 17 
meeting of Presidents Kocharian and Aliyev.  While he hailed 
the meeting as positive and said that a "key, critical step" 
had been taken, he said that he would not disclose what this 
step had been.  He complained about the public statement 
about the substance of the Warsaw discussions by FM 
Mammadyarov, saying that it "did not correspond with reality 
or with the spirit and letter of the agreement reached." 
Oskanian rejected the assertion that Armenia had agreed to 
return all seven occupied territories.  Armenia's position 
remained that at least one of these territories would not be 
returned and that this territory would assume a different 
status to maintain a link between Armenia and N-K.  Oskanian 
said that a signal of just how different the Warsaw meeting 
was from other sessions was when the two presidents called 
both Foreign Ministers in following their one-on-one and gave 
them instructions -- in the presence of the Minsk Group 
co-chairs -- on how to prepare for their own next session. 
Oskanian said his next meetings with the co-chairs would be 
on June 8 in Vienna (without FM Mammadyarov) and then -- he 
hoped -- on June 18 in Paris with his Azerbaijani colleague. 
 
4.  (C) When asked whether Armenia thought that the opening 
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline would embolden 
Azerbaijan, Oskanian replied in the negative.  In his view, 
Azerbaijan's options, particularly with regard to the use of 
force, had been limited.  The countries which had invested so 
heavily in the pipeline would simply not allow action which 
would damage their investment, Oskanian argued.  When asked 
whether Azerbaijan's election schedule constrained 
negotiations, Oskanian said that while he "did not rule out a 
breakthrough" before parliamentary elections, he doubted one 
would take place.  Since such serious compromises would be 
required from both sides, it would be natural to delay any 
painful announcements until after elections. 
 
Relations With Turkey Take Two Steps Back 
----------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (C) Oskanian said that Armenia's relations with Turkey 
had taken steps back.  "Despite the hype," no meeting had 
taken place in Warsaw, Oskanian said.  He said that after the 
Warsaw CoE Summit, GOAM officials had heard that Turkey had 
been waiting for Armenia to make an approach; PM Erdogan had 
expressed his frustration in public remarks before leaving 
Warsaw.  Oskanian said that he "does not know how to get 
relations back on the positive track" established by the 
exchange of letters between PM Erdogan and President 
Kocharian.  Two other events had had an even stronger 
negative effect on the relationship.  First, Oskanian said, 
was the GOT's cancellation of an academic conference "with 
the politically correct title of 'Ottoman Armenians During 
the Decline of the Empire.'"  Second was the adoption of 
section 305 of Turkey's new penal code, which criminalizes 
the expression of views contrary to State policy on Cyprus 
and the Armenian massacres. 
 
International Pressure to Move Forward on Democratic Reform 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
6.  (C) Oskanian acknowledged active pressure from 
International Organizations to move forward on key elements 
of democratic reform.  In the past week, he continued, he had 
met with the Council of Europe's Venice Commission on the 
draft changes to Armenia's constitution, with the OSCE's 
Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on the 
draft election law and with the Council of Europe's GRECO 
delegation on corruption.  Oskanian said that the meetings 
had gone well, although there were still issues which are not 
yet agreed.  He admitted that the meetings with the Venice 
Commission were the most difficult.  He expected that a 
referendum on changes to the constitution would take place in 
October or November 2005, concurrent with local elections. 
 
FM to Brussels: NATO IPAP and EU New Neighborhood 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
7.  (C) The FM outlined a grueling travel schedule for the 
coming weeks.  On June 8 he expected to meet with the Minsk 
Group co-chairs in Vienna.  On June 9 he would travel to 
Washington for meetings with the USG.  (Oskanian did not 
announce any specific meetings scheduled.)   From Washington 
he would travel to Beijing for an "official visit" and then 
would travel to London "for a speech to mark the genocide." 
(Note: Although the UK Embassy had no information on this 
subject, the Armenian press reported that Oskanian would 
deliver an address in the House of Lords.  End Note.)  From 
London he would travel to Brussels for two key meetings: 
first at NATO to present Armenia's Individual Partnership 
Action Plan (IPAP) to the NAC and second with key EU 
officials to present the draft of Armenia's statement of 
priorities for the EU "New Neighborhood" program.  Finally, 
he would wind up the trip by meeting with FM Mammadyarov in 
Paris together with the Minsk Group co-chairs. 
EVANS