VZCZCXRO5867
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHYE #0836/01 1720959
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 210959Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3395
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1060

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000836 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, DRL, G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016 
TAGS: PGOV KTIP KWMN KCRM PHUM PREL SMIG AM
SUBJECT: TIP RATING CATCHES KOCHARIAN'S ATTENTION 
 
REF: SECSTATE 99407 
 
Classified By: Amb. John M. Evans for reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) Armenia's second consecutive ranking on the 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Tier 2 Watchlist seems to have 
touched a nerve in the highest levels of Armenian government. 
 During a June 20 meeting with the Ambassador, Deputy Foreign 
Minister Arman Kirakossian confirmed news reports that 
President Kocharian had summoned senior law enforcement 
officials to discuss trafficking issues in recent days.  The 
Ambassador delivered the USG's TIP Action Plan for Armenia to 
Kirakossian, who offered little defense of the GOAM's efforts 
to combat trafficking.  The deputy minister's lack of 
complaint behind closed doors illustrates a larger phenomenon 
whereby the government has criticized the TIP Report's 
methodology in public, but indicated in private that it takes 
the rating seriously.  In the days following the June 6 TIP 
Report release, the pro-government press, the procuracy and 
the police department publicly dismissed it as inaccurate. 
However, Anti-TIP Unit Senior Prosecutor Armen Boshnaghyan 
told us privately that one of the problems identified in the 
report -- the fact that the government conducted only a 
cursory investigation into allegations of corruption by an 
employee of the procuracy -- was accurate.  End Summary. 
 
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KOCHARIAN CALLS IN THE BIG GUNS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Armenia's second consecutive ranking on the 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Tier 2 Watchlist appears to have 
spurred President Kocharian to action on the issue.  During a 
June 20 meeting with the Ambassador, Kirakossian confirmed 
news reports that the president had summoned senior law 
enforcement officials to discuss trafficking issues in recent 
days.  Kirakossian said the meeting had taken place, and that 
the justice minister, head of the National Security Service, 
head of the state police and the prosecutor general were all 
present (though no MFA representatives attended). 
 
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PRIVATELY, ARMENIA ADMITS IT COULD DO MORE 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) Kocharian's action tracks with our observation that, 
despite public bluster from law enforcement officials, the 
GOAM appears to acknowledge privately that Armenia could do 
more to fight trafficking.  Ambassador Evans presented our 
TIP Action Plan and demarche points to Kirakossian and Valery 
Mkrtumyan, the head of Armenia's interagency Anti-TIP 
Commission, June 20.  Mkrtumyan said the government would 
take our recommendations under consideration while 
formulating the GOAM's new National Action Plan.  He also 
said the government plans to raise the level of participation 
in the Anti-TIP Commission to the deputy ministerial level so 
that the commission could function as a decision-making body, 
rather than as a consultative group. 
 
¶4. (C) After Ambassador Evans presented reftel points to 
Kirakossian, the deputy foreign minister ventured that the 
GOAM had in fact investigated allegations of complicity with 
trafficking involving procuracy employee Aristakes Yeremyan. 
Ambassador Evans said the USG was aware of the investigation, 
which took less than two weeks, but said frankly that the 
investigation appeared to be cursory and superficial. 
Kirakossian had no rebuttal. 
 
¶5. (C) Illustrating again the disparity between the GOAM's 
public statements on TIP and its private statements, Anti-TIP 
Unit Senior Prosecutor Boshnaghyan stated in an interview 
with RFE/RL that Armenian law-enforcement authorities are 
doing all they can to combat trafficking.  In a private 
conversation with us, however, Boshnaghyan (please protect) 
raised questions about the quality of the investigation into 
allegations against Yeremyan, and said that the members of 
the interagency investigatory committee from outside the 
procuracy played no role in the investigation.  Boshnaghyan 
also said that Yeremyan had an excellent relationship with 
and the full support of Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan. 
 
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PUBLICLY, GOAM SEEMS UNCONCERNED ABOUT WATCHLIST STATUS 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
 
YEREVAN 00000836  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (C) In public, pro-government media and law enforcement 
officials have dismissed the TIP Report as inaccurate. 
Reports by pro-government newspapers in the days following 
the June 6 release of the 2006 TIP Report were largely 
critical of the report's methodology.  The Hayots Ashkhar 
newspaper reported June 8 that NGOs are one source of 
information for the TIP Report, and questioned the 
credibility of NGO sources, saying this would not be the 
first time that NGOs have exaggerated facts.  The same day, 
Hayots Ashkhar quoted the procuracy spokesman as saying that 
the report was inaccurate and that its sources were 
unreliable. 
 
¶7. (C) Law enforcement officials also publicly questioned the 
validity of the TIP Report's allegations.  Almost all 
Armenian newspapers covered a June 15 press conference held 
by the deputy head of the police department, Karen 
Babakekhian, during which he presented statistics of criminal 
cases related to trafficking and pimping.  Haykakan Zhamanak, 
a gossip-prone tabloid, reported that Babakekhian's press 
conference was intended to refute the TIP Report.  Foreign 
Minister Vartan Oskanian said during a June 8 press 
conference that Armenian authorities were taking serious 
steps to solve the trafficking problem.  He noted that 
instances of trafficking appear to have increased despite 
those serious steps, and did not offer a reason.  (Note: 
Though not presented in an explicitly defensive posture, 
Oskanian's comments appeared to be intended to demonstrate 
that Armenia was doing everything in its power to combat 
trafficking.  End Note.) 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶8. (C) The GOAM's continued practice of publicly questioning 
the accuracy of the TIP Report is disappointing, but not 
surprising.  More surprising, but perhaps encouraging, is 
that the report seems to have caught President Kocharian's 
attention, motivating him to call a high-level meeting to 
discuss the issue.  It is clear to us that Armenia does not 
want to be on the watchlist, especially considering 
Azerbaijan's rise to Tier 2 during the past year.  It is too 
soon to tell whether this positive activity will actually 
result in substantive improvement, but things appear to be 
moving in the right direction. 
EVANS