VZCZCXRO4086
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0322 1341003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141003Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9043
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0714
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1749
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0763

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000322 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHU PGOV PREL AM
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST ATTACKED AS RIVALRIES HEAT UP WITHIN RULING 
CIRCLES 
 
Ref:  Yerevan 302 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Nver Mnatsakanian, a prominent television 
journalist, has become the latest victim in a string of violent 
attacks on Armenian journalists, which are largely going unsolved. 
Many suspect Mnatsakanian might have been targeted as a reprisal for 
airing an unusually revealing interview of the unpolished Prosperous 
Armenia party leader, an indication of sharpening election rivalry 
among the various ruling coalition factions. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Mnatsakanian, who anchors news programs and hosts daily 
talk shows on the private (but generally pro-governmental) Shant TV, 
was attacked by unknown men as he returned home on the night of May 
¶6. Mnatsakanian suffered injuries to his head, foot and hand, and 
required treatment in a nearby hospital. "I parked the car in the 
garage and was on my way home when I noticed them standing at the 
corner of the building. They were standing in front of each other, 
whispering. Then suddenly they turned around and hit me and threw me 
to the ground. My neighbors came to the rescue, and the assailants 
left the scene", Mnatsakanian told reporters after the attack. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Armenian police opened a criminal investigation under an 
article of the Criminal Code that deals with assaults resulting in 
"bodily injuries of medium severity." A police investigator visited 
and questioned Mnatsakanian on Thursday morning. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mnatsakanian is at least the third Armenian journalist 
known to have been assaulted this year (reftel). Several such 
incidents were reported last year. Virtually none of those cases 
have been solved by the police. 
 
¶5. (SBU) While linking the attack with his overall professional 
activities, Mnatsakanian did not think that it had a direct 
connection with his recent programs. "I can't draw such 
conclusions," he said. One of those programs, aired earlier this 
week, featured pollster Aharon Adibekian, who caused a stir by 
predicting that Armenia's second largest governing party, Prosperous 
Armenia, (led by oligarch Gagik Tsarukian), will fare poorly in the 
upcoming mayoral elections in Yerevan.  Tsarukian appeared on the 
show the next evening to angrily rebut the pro-government pollster's 
claims. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The most widespread local view is that the assault might 
have been a reprisal for Mnatsakanian's interview with Tsarukisn, 
which was regarded as an embarrassment for Tsarukian.  More 
accustomed to short "softball" interviews, the relatively poorly 
educated and politically inexperienced Tsarukian performed badly in 
the face of Mnastakanian's probing questions about Armenian election 
practices.  Asked about alleged vote-buying and the abuse of 
"administrative resources" for electoral advantage by ruling 
coalition parties, Tsarukian declared that such things are 
completely normal, not only in Armenia, but all over the world, 
including America and Russia.  He said the ruling Republicans will 
benefit most from the use of administrative resources because they 
have access to them, a situation that he also called "normal." 
"Those amounts are envisaged in the state budget for those purposes, 
so it's normal," he said. 
 
¶6. (U) Tsarukian also commented that the population would benefit if 
elections were held more often, because "then they would have their 
elevators fixed, asphalt laid and playgrounds built." Apart from the 
content, observers remarked that Tsarukian's comments were liberally 
laced with coarse "street language" and illiterate phrasings, a 
setback to Tsarukian's recent efforts to project a more polished 
public persona.  (NOTE:  "Street language" in this case does not 
mean obscenities, but simply a low-brow style of phrasing and word 
choice.  Armenian language makes a sharper distinction than does 
English between polite or literary language -- as spoken by the 
middle-class, and which is normally the language of public discourse 
-- and low-class "street language."  Tsarukian, who arose from a 
distinctly working class background, lacks facility with literary 
Armenian.  END NOTE) 
 
¶7.  (SBU) COMMENT:  This latest incident -- as well as the 
television interview -- suggests that the election season has 
brought to the fore sharp intramural struggles for dominance within 
the ruling coalition.  In that sense, this latest attack differs 
from other recent attacks on media figures, which have seemed more 
like pro-governmental thugs going after critical or 
opposition-linked media figures. 
 
YOVANOVITCH