Cablegate: Armenia's Test for Nato and Pfp: Will They Be

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 001813

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2014
TAGS: PREL PM PGOV AM AJ
SUBJECT: ARMENIA'S TEST FOR NATO AND PFP: WILL THEY BE
ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN CBE04?

REF: A) YEREVAN 684 B) UNDERWOOD-SIDEREAS 8/13/2004

E-MAIL

Classified By: CDA A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).

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A TEST FOR PFP
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1. (C) GOAM senior policy makers are looking to the upcoming
Cooperation Best Effort 2004 (CBE04) Partnership for Peace
(PfP) mid-September exercise in Azerbaijan as a test case for
whether NATO, PfP members and the U.S. genuinely want to work
with Armenia. Until the five Armenian military officers who
have requested visas at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tbilisi
receive their visas and are allowed to take part in the
exercise, GOAM senior officials from the President to the
Foreign Minister will continue to present this as a clear-cut
test of NATO's will.

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NO CBE04 WITHOUT THE ARMENIANS?
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2. (C) GOAM officials point to the fact that they allowed
Turkey to participate in CBE03 exercises in Armenia (and
invited Azerbaijan as well) and note that they expect the
U.S. and its NATO allies to pressure Azerbaijan into allowing
Armenian participation in CBE04.

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CLOSER ARMENIAN MILITARY COOPERATION
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3. (C) In recent months, Armenia has shown important signs
that it is considering closer engagement on defense issues;
the GOAM is developing its Individual Partnership Action Plan
(IPAP) and agreed to a Defense Assessment on August 5.
Armenian officials lead us to believe that if CBE04 goes
forward without Armenian participation we can expect serious
disenchantment with both NATO and PfP.
GODFREY

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