VZCZCXRO9340
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0275/01 1170359
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 270359Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8960
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEADWW/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000275 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ASEC AM
SUBJECT: SERIES OF SMALL PROTESTS AT EMBASSY CALL FOR U.S. 
"GENOCIDE" RECOGNITION 
 
¶1. The Embassy has been visited by a string of small, brief 
demonstration rallies in recent days, each calling for the 
U.S. Government to label the Armenian massacres of 1915 as 
"genocide."  Each of these demonstrations amounted to several 
dozen participants.  First in line, on April 16, was the 
youth wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (aka 
Dashnaksutyun), which is generally considered the most 
overtly nationalistic of Armenia's mainstream political 
parties.  This was followed by the Heritage Party youth wing, 
April 22.  Both the ARF and Heritage groups had notified us 
in advance, and we made arrangements to bring in a small 
delegation of representatives to meet with an emboff and 
deliver their respective letters (see below).  On April 23, 
in the early afternoon, an unnamed group organized by an 
Armenian social networking website assembled some 50 
demonstrators in a light rain for about 20 minutes, with 
balloons, banners, and alarm clocks (an element whose 
significance was unclear), but this group had no clear 
spokesman nor any letter to present.  Then at approximately 
7:00pm, a previously unknown-to-us group calling itself the 
International Associaton of Lawyers and Psychologists 
assembled perhaps two dozen demonstrators, who delivered a 
letter in Armenian to polchief along the same basic lines. 
 
¶2. The ARF and Heritage Party youth wings courteously 
provided English translations of their letters with the 
original Armenian.  Verbatim text follows at paragraphs 3 and 
¶4. 
 
¶3.  TEXT OF HERITAGE PARTY YOUTH WING LETTER 
(HERITAGE-SUPPLIED TRANSLATION): 
 
21 April 2009 
 
Dear Mr. President: 
 
We, the young members of the Heritage Party of Armenia, are 
extremely enthusiastic over your recent election to the 
office of the President of the United States of America. We 
are full of hope that your selection to this post will bring 
a new impetus to the progress -- including the protection of 
human rights, the pacific resolution of conflicts, and the 
pre-eminence of the precepts of liberty and justice of the 
American people and the whole of humanity. We were especially 
encouraged by your pre-election promise toward formally 
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and, as President 
of the United States and after a twenty-year interval, 
calling it like it is once again. As a civilizational 
challenge and a permanent guarantee for regional security and 
stability, we believe it is highly important for all nations 
and countries to reflect on their history and to face it 
head-on, no matter how bitter that may be. 
We, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the small 
number of genocide survivors from Mush, Sasun, Cilicia, Kars, 
Sunnalu, Erzerum, Malatia, Sebastia, Arabkir, Zeitun, Marash, 
and Butania-and the representatives of a new generation -- 
are patiently waiting for the day when, in keeping with the 
letter and spirit of international law, we will be given the 
chance to return to Western Armenia -- our Motherland which 
was taken away from us unlawfully and as a consequence of the 
Genocide -- and to once more own our estates: our lands and 
homes. We condemn any and all attempt by the international 
bodies toward applying double standards for any regional 
nation, circumnavigating international law, and solely 
considering who is stronger or whose natural resources are 
greater. 
 
Mr. President, we, the youth of Heritage, a national liberal 
party, urge you to recognize not solely the Genocide of the 
Armenian people that was perpetrated by the Turkish state 
from 1915 to 1922, but also the great dispossession of their 
homeland. In result of this dispossession, an entire nation 
lost nearly ninety percent of its historical motherland, 
those territories where it had dwelled for millennia and 
created a rich civilization and great cultural treasures. Yet 
we still have great hopes on sound judgment and believe that 
the problematic issues existing among the nations will be 
resolved in due course and on the basis of international law 
and thus the legal heirs of the guilty will repent, ask 
forgiveness, and make reparations through justice. Because 
injustice, as well as apathy by the international bodies and 
powerful countries, can increase the temptation to personally 
restore one's own lost and disregarded rights and to use 
asymmetric force against a powerful but a brute force. And 
this can make us all face new challenges and can shake the 
foundations of security and stability in the world entire. 
 
We are confident that the Turks -- with whom we expect to 
soon establish normal relations anchored in real justice, 
historical truth, and international law-need your sincere 
 
YEREVAN 00000275  002 OF 002 
 
 
assistance on their thorny road to amending their past and 
returning to the world's family of nations with a clean 
slate. 
Respectfully, 
 
¶1. Kirakossyan Meline 2. Sargsyan Ashkhen 3. Mheryan Artak 4. 
Tonoyan Hakob 5. Tonoyan Gohar 6. Tonoyan Astghik 7. 
Qocharyan Gagik 8. Sardaryan Aren 9. Poghosyan Narine 10. 
Nazlukhanyan Gohar 11. Markosyan David 12. Markosyan Armen 
¶13. Gevorgyan Sirarpi 14. Grigoryan David 15. Hakobyan Lilit 
¶16. Mirzakhanyan Sam 17. Eranosyan Narek 18. Mnacakanyan 
Arsen 19. Hovhannisyan Anahit  20. Matevosyan Nana 21. 
Sargsyan Ani 22. Sanasaryan DaVId  23. Isakhanyan Voskehat 
¶24. Hakobyan Margarit 25. Matevosyan Meri 26. Ghazaryan 
Mariam 27. Ghazaryan Srbuhi 
¶4.  TEXT OF ARF LETTER (ARF-SUPPLIED ENGLISH TRANSLATION): 
 
Dear Mr. Obama, 
 
You are a believer in change. 
We also believe in change. 
Changes which are necessary, not only for the United States 
of America, but for the whole world. 
 
On the eve of the 94th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, 
we, the youth of Armenia appeal to you with the expectation, 
as you stated during your recent trip to Turkey, that you 
haven't changed your position on the recognition of the 
Armenian Genocide. We hope that you will now fulfill the 
pledge you have made many times, and in your annual statement 
on April 24, recognize the historical truth, this time as 
President of the United States of America. 
 
From the day of its creation, the United States of America 
adopted human rights, freedom, and democratic values and 
humanitarian principles. As a witness to the tragedy of the 
Armenians, President Woodrow Wilson, one of the best 
proponents of these values, at the end of World War I, in the 
name of truth and justice, enshrined the rights of the 
Armenian nation. 
 
We are greatly encouraged that the House of Representatives 
of the state of Hawaii, where you were born, a few days 
before the 94th anniversary, officially recognized the 
Armenian Genocide and condemned Turkey's policy of denial and 
as such became the 42nd state in America to do so. 
 
Your recognition of the truth is not only in the interest of 
the American people, the Armenians and other peoples of the 
world, but it is especially in the interests of the Turkish 
people. By doing so, you will be greatly contributing to 
putting an end to Genocide, today and in the future. 
 
We believe that you will help in reinstating the historical 
truth. 
 
Mr. President, 
 
Recognize the Armenian Genocide and future generations of the 
Armenian people will always remember you and your people with 
gratitude. 
 
We believe in you. 
 
Dashnak Youth 
April 7, 2009 
 
YOVANOVITCH