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Viewing cable 04YEREVAN347, TOUGH DASHNAK TALK ON N-K, TURKEY AT PARTY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04YEREVAN347 2004-02-12 10:20 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Yerevan
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000347 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM TU AJ AM
SUBJECT: TOUGH DASHNAK TALK ON N-K, TURKEY AT PARTY 
CONFERENCE SPARKS CONTROVERSY 
 
1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please treat 
accordingly. 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
2. (SBU) Dashnak Party Chairman Hrand Margarayan's 
February 6 comments on relations with Turkey, N-K, 
and Georgia's Armenian population sparked renewed 
controversy among Armenia's political elite. 
Margaryan declared during his address to the 
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF or 
"Dashnaksutyun") 29th World Congress that the GOAM 
should not entertain closer relations with Turkey, 
endorsed permanent independent status for all 
geographic regions involved in the N-K conflict and 
called for autonomy for the Armenian enclaves in 
Georgia's Javakheti region.  FM Vartan Oskanian, who 
himself addressed the meeting before Margaryan's 
speech, was quick to distance himself and the GOAM 
from these statements during press opportunities 
this week.  Margaryan's comments appeared carefully 
calibrated for the Diasporan audience that is still 
a significant support base for the ARF.  The extent 
to which local ARF politicians are willing to adopt 
Margaryan's speech as a party mantra will affect the 
ARF's privileged place in the governing coalition. 
While it is still too early to separate last week's 
hype from long-term effects on party policies, the 
ARF congress hurled the party back into the domestic 
spotlight.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------------ 
SPEECH MAKES HEADLINES FOR ARF 
------------------------------ 
 
3. (SBU) ARF Chairman Hrand Margaryan opened the 
party's 29th World Congress February 6 with a 
controversial speech that has sparked debate among 
Armenia's political elite.  Margaryan declared 
during the speech that the GOAM should halt 
discussions of rapprochement with Turkey until the 
GOT met all ARF pre-conditions.  He called any 
proposal for border opening "irrelevant" until the 
GOT classified the events of 1912-15 as genocide. 
Margaryan accused the Turkish-Armenian 
Reconciliation Commission of "treachery" against 
Armenia and criticized its "secret funding by world 
powers." 
 
4. (SBU) Margaryan reiterated the ARF's 
traditionally harsh stand regarding Nagorno- 
Karabagh.  He told the audience categorically that 
no land involved in the N-K conflict should ever be 
returned to Azerbaijan.  He suggested expanding the 
current areas controlled by Armenian forces to 
include other regions historically inhabited by 
Armenians (referring to Shahumian and Getashen). 
These comments incited waves of enthusiastic 
applause from the audience and wincing from GOAM 
representatives seated behind him on the stand. 
 
5. (SBU) The most unexpected part of Margaryan's 
speech was a call for autonomy for Armenians living 
in Georgia's Javakheti region.  He declared that 
Javakh was "now a part of the Armenian agenda" and 
accused successive Georgian regimes of 
discrimination and exploitation of the country's 
Armenian population.  He fell short of calling for 
an independent state and clarified that an 
autonomous Armenian region should exist within the 
Georgian state.  Margaryan claimed that the Armenian 
Diaspora was increasingly supportive of the ARF's 
approach to Javakheti. 
 
------------------------------------- 
SPEECH CREATES HEADACHES FOR THE GOAM 
------------------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) FM Vartan Oskanian, who himself addressed 
the meeting before Margaryan's speech, was quick to 
distance himself and the GOAM from these statements 
during press opportunities this week.  Oskanian did 
not criticize Margaryan's comments, but went to 
great lengths to categorize them as ARF opinions 
that "do not reflect Government of Armenia policy." 
MFA spokesman Hamlet Gasparian responded 
aggressively to the speech by reciting 
constitutional passages giving the president 
authority to create foreign policy.  Local news 
outlets carried his closing statement that, 
"[Foreign Policy] issues are a constitutional 
prerogative of the President," not of the Dashnaks. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
MEETING ATTRACTS DIASPORA, LOCAL POWER PLAYERS 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
7. (U) The ARF Congress was a standing-room only 
event that included an impressive selection of high- 
level GOAM representatives.  The Prime Minister, a 
majority of cabinet-level ministers and 
parliamentarians from the whole range of Armenia's 
political spectrum attended the meeting.  Most 
speeches from GOAM representatives made 
congratulatory remarks about the ARF's place among 
the GOAM governing coalition and the party's current 
role as a cooperative political player.  The event 
attracted a large number of Diasporans who support 
ARF and was the largest public event for the party 
since its reemergence in 1998.  An ARF 
parliamentarian told us that the most enthusiastic 
support for the event came from Diasporan ARF 
chapters in France and Russia. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
8. (SBU) Margaryan's comments appeared carefully 
calibrated for the Diasporan audience that is still 
a significant support base for the ARF.  The extent 
to which local ARF politicians are willing to adopt 
Margaryan's speech as a party mantra will no doubt 
affect the ARF's privileged place in the governing 
coalition.  Some are quick to forecast the 
controversy surrounding the speech as one of the 
first fissures before the coalition's possible 
breakdown.  While it is still too soon to determine 
how much of last week's hype has real resonance 
within ARF party leaders and policy, Margaryan's 
comments and the ARF's splashy World Congress has 
definitely hurled the party back into the domestic 
spotlight -- for now. 
 
ORDWAY