US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN1573

UNCLAS YEREVAN 001573 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
G FOR UNDER SECRETARY DOBRIANSKY 
EUR FOR A/S FRIED, A/DAS JFOX, ACE/TADAMS AND CACEN/KWITMER 
ECA FOR VOLVIS/LWEBER AND LMAKHOLM 
NSC FOR SENIOR DIRECTOR KOZAK 
AID FOR ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR LUTEN (E&E) 
FROM AMBASSADOR EVANS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, AM 
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT VISITING WASHINGTON 
 
 
(SBU) Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Artur Baghdasarian, the young, energetic and 
charismatic Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, is 
flying to Washington today for a ten-day visit including a 
seven-day Voluntary Visitor program that has been a joint 
effort by the Office of International Visitors, Embassy 
Yerevan, the National Democratic Institute, the Armenian 
Legislative Strengthening Program funded by USAID, and the 
Armenian-American Assembly, as well as some private 
individuals.  Although the timing of his visit is not the 
best, straddling Labor Day, this will be Baghdasarian's first 
real exposure to Washington, and we hope it will have the 
effect of confirming this young political leader's confidence 
in democracy and his Western orientation. 
 
2. (SBU) Baghdasarian claims to be the youngest parliamentary 
speaker in Europe.  In our experience, he "gets it" on 
democracy, and has spoken out repeatedly and fearlessly on 
issues of concern to Armenian voters.  As the leader of the 
smallest party (Orinats Yerkir or "Country of Law") in the 
three-party governing coalition, he has occupied an important 
mediatory position and has used it not only to his own 
advantage, but for the greater good.  In the current 
drawn-out duel between President Kocharian and the opposition 
over the constitutional amendments, he has managed to keep 
lines of communication open in both directions, even drawing 
praise from some opposition members.  He also has been a 
leader in pressing for more normal relations with both Turkey 
and Azerbaijan, and maintains cordial relations with the 
speakers of both those countries' parliaments.  Earlier this 
year he received a traveling member of the Turkish parliament 
in the face of criticism by the local media. 
 
3. (SBU) Baghdasarian has been open to advice from both the 
Armenian Legislative Strengthening Program, and from NDI, 
both funded by USAID.  He was helpful to us in the 
parliamentary debate over the non-combatant unit Armenia sent 
to Iraq at the beginning of this year.  He will be traveling, 
at our suggestion, with his accomplished English-speaking 
wife, Anna.  We urge those with whom Artur Baghdasarian is 
scheduled to meet to try to keep those appointments if at all 
possible, and to engage with this young and personable 
political leader who, we think, should have a bright future 
in the Republic of Armenia.  Baghdasarian has recently been 
working on his English, but is not yet fully fluent. 
 
4. (SBU) On Capitol Hill, Baghdasarian is scheduled to meet 
with Speaker Hastert; however; we have been warned that that 
meeting may well fall through.  He is also scheduled to speak 
at CSIS and to visit the offices of the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation. 
 
5. Baghdasarian's bio is available on Embassy Yerevan's new 
classified website at www.state.sgov/p/eur/yerevan. 
 
 
EVANS