VZCZCXRO3663
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHYE #1667/01 3351117
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 011117Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4494
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1159
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0048

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001667 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, G/TIP, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2016 
TAGS: HSTC PHUM PGOV PREL KCRM KWMN SMIG AM
SUBJECT: RESULTS OF POST'S ANTI-TIP FULL-COURT PRESS 
 
REF: A) YEREVAN 1597 B) YEREVAN 1548 C) YEREVAN 1524 
     D) YEREVAN 1101 E) YEREVAN 1091 F) YEREVAN 
     1565 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires A. F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) A November 27 meeting with the Prosecutor General (PG) 
suggests our series of "straight talk" interventions 
with GOAM officials in late October and early November (ref 
B) may be bearing fruit. The PG was more forthcoming than in 
previous meetings, foreshadowing changes to the PG anti-TIP 
unit he said we would appreciate.  We also have 
just been told that about 27,000 USD for the GOAM's TIP 
National Plan of Action would be inserted into the draft 
2007 budget.  We are cautiously optimistic that senior 
Armenian leaders are getting the message that we are 
serious about improvement in Armenia's anti-TIP record.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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PG FINALLY COMING AROUND 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) On November 8, CDA met one-on-one with FM Oskanian to 
warn the GOAM that more action was needed on TIP to prevent a 
successive negative report for Armenia.  CDA was blunt about 
our dissatisfaction with an investigation into allegations of 
impropriety.  Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian called in 
the Charge November 27 for a follow-up meeting, after the 
Foreign Ministry intervened with Hovsepian to relay our 
concerns.  The November 27 meeting also followed our 
interventions with key presidential advisers, and the visit 
of U.S. OSCE Ambassador Julie Finley (reftels), in which we 
had communicated serious reservations about GOAM progress 
against trafficking.  We had flagged the possibility that not 
only was Armenia not on a path to graduate from the Tier 2 
Watch List based on achievements to date, but that it might 
even slip to Tier 3 status. 
 
¶3. (C) The PG spent the first half of the 90-minute meeting 
extolling Armenia's positive work to combat trafficking, 
and comparing the country favorably to its neighbors.  He 
also made many halfhearted excuses about his office's 
failure to conduct a thorough investigation into the spring 
2006 allegations against one of the investigators who was 
also implicated in the August allegations.  CDA maintained 
our position that we are concerned with the process -- a 
thorough and objective investigation -- rather than the 
result, and stayed tough on our points of contention (ref C). 
 
 
¶4. (C) Having vented, the PG got down to business.  He said 
that a copy of the internal investigation commission's 
final report was on its way to the Embassy.  He said that, 
while the report included the investigators' conclusions, 
it did not include his own decision on how he would proceed. 
He also said the internal commission's conclusion contained 
"contradictory elements."  (COMMENT:  The PG was seemingly 
preparing the ground to be more responsive to our concerns 
than will be called for by the investigation report.  END 
COMMENT.) 
 
¶5. (C) One of the PG's staff visited us November 28 to 
deliver a copy of the conclusion, on which we will report 
septel.  She told us the details of what she called the 
"restructuring" of the PG's anti-TIP Unit had not yet been 
nailed down, but would be forthcoming. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
GOAM FINDS MONEY FOR NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) That same staffer called the CDA in the evening of 
November 27 to inform him that the PG, the Prime Minister 
Andranik Markarian, and National Assembly Speaker Tigran 
Torosian had agreed that a line item on TIP would be 
inserted into the budget.  Anna Aghadjanian, a member of the 
Interagency Anti-TIP Commission, told us November 29 
that the cabinet had approved an amount of 10 million AMD 
(about 27,000 USD), and that the proposal would be 
forwarded to the parliament for further consideration. 
 
¶7. (C) Though we had pushed an influential parliamentarian to 
propose the budget change several weeks ago (ref B), sources 
tell us the PG personally called the Prime Minister with the 
 
YEREVAN 00001667  002 OF 002 
 
 
line item request following our meeting.  The MP may have 
been working on it all along, but the PG was able to get it 
done within 24 hours. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶8. (C) It is rewarding finally to see some movement on TIP 
after months of pushing the GOAM on the subject.  We don't 
know what sort of "restructuring" of the anti-TIP Unit the PG 
has in mind, but suspect it may dilute the 
authority of investigator Aristakes Yeremyan, who now has 
been the subject of two internal investigations.  The 
insertion of funding into the budget -- a very respectable 
amount, in the local context -- is the most positive 
development.  The PG's involvement in the budget proposal is 
also a very positive sign, particularly given the fact that 
finding funding for anti-TIP programs is not in his office's 
mandate.  Taken together, these indications suggest that the 
top echelons of Armenian government are finally taking notice 
that they need to work harder against trafficking. 
GODFREY