WikiLeaks-Armenia No 65
2007-10-31
SENSITIVE
C O R R E C T E D COPY (CHANGED PARA MARKING)
SUBJECT: TER-PETROSSIAN DECLARES CANDIDACY AT LARGE RALLY, ASSAILS AUTHORITIES
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SUMMARY
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¶1. (SBU) Former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossian (LTP) announced his candidacy for president at an October 26 outdoor rally of some 20,000 supporters who gathered despite light rain in Yerevan’s Freedom Square. Blasting the authorities for over 90 minutes, LTP called the ruling regime a kleptocracy, and suggested that President Kocharian was involved in the 1999 assassination of Armenian leaders. LTP also contended that the ruling regime now accepted the kind of phased resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh (NK) that LTP had advocated in 1997-98, and which Kocharian had branded as defeatist at that time. LTP has won the mantle of preeminent opposition candidate. He now faces a steep uphill battle to convince voters and overcome political obstacles. End summary.
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TIME “TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE”
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¶2. (SBU) Addressing 20,000 supporters who came to Yerevan’s Freedom Square to hear him announce his 2008 presidential candidacy, LTP did not disappoint, opening his speech by saying “The hour has struck to call a spade a spade and present the bill to the authorities.” LTP was fierce and unrelenting in his criticism, calling the current leadership a “kleptocracy” and a “criminal regime which is corrupt from top to bottom.” LTP accused the authorities of “state racketeering,” and charged them with having stolen three to four billion dollars from the Armenian people over the past five years. Without naming names, LTP referred unmistakably to Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan’s brother and President Robert Kocharian’s son, wondering out loud how an “ordinary bus driver” and a “25-year-old young man” could become two of Armenian’s richest businessmen in such a short time. LTP charged that the authorities’ economic policy is directed at ensuring the welfare of a narrow group of people, where “the homeland is a conquered territory or business entity.”
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KOCHARIAN FAULTED FOR OCTOBER 1999 ASSASSINATIONS
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¶3. (SBU) Speaking on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the October 27, 1999 assassinations in Armenia’s parliament that took the lives of the country’s prime minister, parliamentary speaker, and six others, LTP said “President Kocharian did his best to hush up the act of terrorism ….” Taking the podium after the son (Stepan Demirchian) and brother (Aram Sargsian) of the felled leaders had already spoken, LTP charged that Kocharian had “directed all suspicions at himself,” having forbidden parts of the investigation to take place, fired or reassigned personnel involved in the investigation, and released key suspects. LTP called the October assassinations the “slaughter” that cleared the way for “the formation and development of Kocharian’s regime,” after which Kocharian consolidated his power by eliminating all officials who hindered his supremacy.
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THE POT THAT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK
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¶4. (SBU) LTP assailed the authorities for “having wasted so many years” in resolving the Karabakh conflict, challenged their commitments to a real resolution, and said the allegedly “defeatist” approach they now embraced was the very same phased settlement he initially backed in 1997 — the one which ultimately led to his ouster by Kocharian a year later. LTP called for bringing Karabakh leaders to the negotiating table, and said the authorities “have pretended for the last ten years” to wish to settle the conflict, instead trying “to hinder its settlement in every way …” so that the international community eventually agrees to maintaining the current – and tenuous – status quo.” LTP said it was time to radically change the authorities’ destructive policy of postponing rather than solving the conflict, and to start doing this by “cleaning one’s own barns” and “preventing the reproduction of the current criminal regime ….”
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MEDIA AND GOAM REACTION TO LTP’S ANNOUNCEMENT
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¶5. (SBU) Media reaction has been predictably divided along media outlets’ loyalty or opposition to the government. Opposition dailies characterized the opposition rally as a “turning point” despite previous pessimistic forecasts about LTP’s prospects, while pro-government newspapers continued to say the former president still has no chance in 2008. TV stations, most of which are controlled or influenced by the government, negatively characterized the rally, juxtaposing misleading images that called into question the number of rally participants with extensive quotes by President Kocharian reminding Armenians of the cold, dark years of LTP’s presidency in the mid-90s. Kocharian pledged to “remind whoever has forgotten” about those years. Opposition newspapers claim a “black PR campaign” has already been launched to smear LTP on television. Opposition media also claimed that authorities tried to restrict citizens from attending the rally. There were reports that state agencies threatened employees not to attend, and ordered minivan drivers from the regions not to work on October 26 in order to impede regional participation at the rally. Yerkir Media, run by the ARF (Dashnaksutyun) party, was the only television network that aired balanced coverage of the rally.
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INITIAL REACTIONS FROM THE STREET
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¶6. (SBU) EmbOffs at the rally informally queried citizens over the weekend to gauge their reaction to LTP’s announcement. Some citizens didn’t know their had been a rally, or thought LTP had already announced during the summer. Most agreed with LTP’s assessment that corruption has spun out of control, and that the ruling regime has become too authoritative for their tastes. Yet while most acknowledged LTP was no saint either, they said that at least LTP — unlike Kocharian or Prime Minister Sargsyan — had had to cope with factors out of his control, like the pains of early independence and the Soviet collapse, wars in Nagorno Karabakh and neighboring Georgia, and closed borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan. We detected sympathy in these statements, even a bit of nostalgia. Others we spoke with said they were so irate over recent price hikes in foodstuffs that they would not vote for Sargsyan. Many we queried said they were still undecided who to vote for, or wouldn’t vote at all. Almost all noted, however, that LTP has “a chance” to become president again.
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LTP ADVISERS ON THE BUMPY ROAD AHEAD
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¶7. (SBU) At an impromptu meeting two days prior to the rally, senior LTP advisers told EmbOffs that the October 23-24 detention of LTP supporters (reftel) had revealed the extent of concern the ruling regime has over LTP’s presidential bid. They also said the rally would be the first concrete opportunity to gauge public opinion on LTP’s political re-emergence after being forced out of office a decade ago. Criticizing the authorities’ abuse of power, they added that LTP would have to take his campaign to the streets to overcome the media blackout imposed by the authorities. They complained that not one of the country’s 17 TV media outlets would publicize the rally, despite offers to all to pay for the advertising. They said LTP’s visits to all of Armenia’s administrative in the last several months were conducted to reconnect with his traditional centers of support. They acknowledged that LTP still does not have the opposition camp fully behind him, but generally viewed his campaign as gathering momentum.
¶8. (SBU) They urged the United States government to pay great attention to the 2008 presidential election, as they contended it did in Ukraine and Georgia, and hold the authorities accountable for a free and fair vote. They said LTP supporters would not accept the results of a tainted vote, and that they would “sit in the streets” until a free election is held. They said they expected more harassment from authorities as time goes by, and said they were aware of the production of video shorts and documentary-style footage by the ruling Republican Party which will be used in a public smear campaign on TV.
(Note: According to media contacts, such footage has already been distributed by the presidential administration and begun to air as of October 25. End note.) In spite of the challenges ahead, the advisers struck a defiant tone and said “we are prepared for anything,” and “we have to carry on.”
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COMMENT
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¶9. (SBU) The large attendance at the rally showed that LTP remains a vaunted political figure in Armenia. His fierce public criticism of the authorities – the second time in two months – illustrates the seriousness with which he is approaching the campaign. Although some of the issues he raised clearly resonate with the person on the street, whether it be corruption or being left out of Armenia’s impressive economic growth, it is still too early to gauge Armenians’ receptivity to a second LTP era. Given the obstacles the authorities are already placing in LTP’s path, his campaign remains very much of an uphill climb. LTP’s fiery entrance into the race, however, appears to have shaken up the seemingly apathetic Armenian body politic. End comment.
PENNINGTON
