Negotiations to renew Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s broadcast agreement in Armenia have ended, reportedly putting the station’s Yerevan office on the verge of closure. As of August 9, the station’s Armenian service’s programs will no longer be carried on public radio. Critics contend the decision is an attempt to muzzle criticism of government policies.

[…]

In a July 25 televised statement to explain the negotiations’ failure, Public Television and Radio Company Board Chairman Alexan Harutiunian stated that his organization had “not impeded, but displayed good will and retransmitted the programs of Radio Liberty from February till today despite the absence of a contract.”

“The radio station made payments until February 27 and has not made any payment since then, but the bills were presented to it every month, and that debt today makes about $86,000. In other words, the public radio funded the retransmission of the radio station’s programs since 2007 at the expense of Armenia’s state budget,” Harutiunian said.

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In a July 24 press release, James K. Glassman, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, stated that the Public Televison and Radio Company had declined payment and had refused to sign a new agreement. Glassman claimed that the “minor technical issues” which had prompted the delegation’s trip to Yerevan had been “resolved” during the talks.

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The US Embassy in Yerevan has not yet issued any statement, but in an interview with RFE/RL on July 20, U.S. chargé d’affaires Rudolf Perina said that “assurances were given to us on a high level that the problem is a technical one and can be worked out through negotiations.”

“[T]he authorities in Armenia understand that if it appeared that RFE/RL were being blocked from broadcasts for political reasons, this would be difficult for many friends of Armenia in the West and in the United States to understand,” Perina added.

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MP Stepan Safarian of the parliamentary opposition Heritage Party, which took part in an opposition boycott that contributed to the July 3 defeat of the earlier legislative amendments, expressed surprise over the failure of negotiations. “I didn’t expect the authorities to be so imprudent. They, in fact, do not avoid overt confrontation with the West, without thinking about the consequences,” Safarian said.

He added that the potential consequences of the RFE/RL renewal failure were “quite serious.”
In particular, Safarian suggested the decision could endanger the $235.65 million US-funded Millennium Challenge Program.

Continuance of the Millennium Challenge program is contingent upon Armenia demonstrating that it is committed to democratic reform, including media rights. In 2006, the Washington, DC-based human rights organization Freedom House urged the Millennium Challenge Corporation to suspend the Armenian program, arguing that freedom of speech rights had not been observed.

The future of RFE/RL’s unfettered activities in Armenia again hung in the balance on Wednesday just three weeks after the Armenian parliament rejected a government bill that would have effectively banned the crucial retransmission of its programs by state radio.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, RFE/RL’s management and its Washington-based oversight board said the state-controlled Armenian Public Television and Radio (HHHR) has refused to sign a new retransmission agreement and could stop airing RFE/RL Armenian service programs on August 9.

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“I think the issue is not closed and there are possibilities [of reaching agreement,]” parliament speaker Tigran Torosian, who is also a leading member of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), told RFE/RL, commenting on the statement. Torosian said he thinks there is still “some hope” for a mutually acceptable settlement between the parties.

But the HHK’s junior partners in the governing coalition, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), reiterated its opposition to RFE/RL’s continued use of Public Radio frequencies. “I believe that any radio or TV station must be able to operate in Armenia, but that must be done on a commercial basis,” said Vahan Hovannisian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader. “And giving the state’s [broadcasting] capacities to somebody else is beyond logic.”

“For Dashnaktsutyun, the top priority is Armenia’s interests,” added Hovannisian. “Radio Liberty is not acting against Armenia’s interests. But it is not acting for Armenia’s interests either.”

Opposition leaders, for their part, stood by their view that RFE/RL is the only Armenian-language broadcaster not controlled by the authorities in Yerevan and that the latter have made a political decision to severely restrict Armenians’ access to its news programs ahead of next year’s presidential election.

“They failed to do that through the National Assembly and are now trying to do that by other means,” said Victor Dallakian, a veteran opposition lawmaker who helped to block the controversial government bill. “This is a condemnable policy directed against freedom of speech.”

“The purpose of not renewing the [retransmission] contract is to keep our people misinformed and to propagate what they want,” charged Vazgen Manukian, another prominent opposition politician. “The values our people now need most now is freedom, integrity and the ability to receive and analyze information. In this sense, the authorities could not have made a more anti-national decision.”

Just to point out again that RFE/RL will not be closed, but that it’s broadcasts will be restricted if and when they stop broadcasting on Public Radio.

Of course, the next thing of concern is whether political pressure is applied through the TV & Radio Committee on those private stations which do increase the number of RFE/RL broadcasts even if they only cover at maximum 60 percent of the country. I think it’s the next logical step the authorities will take and probably in combination with the re-introduction of the original bill in the Autumn/Fall.

Thanks.

This is of course a very tiny bit of Radio Liberty broadcasting, however, Aram Mkrtchyan was also sure, that they won’t have a problem with broadcasting Radio Liberty in the future as well. As to the question, whether they’d take on broadcasting all of RFE/RL newscasts, Aram said the question is irrelevant at this point. I understand, that this is because they have not received a specific offer from RFE/RL yet, so he can’t say anything for sure. Let’s wait and see!

We knew Kocharyan will get his way in the end, but there was at least slight hope, that all these pressures from US, International community, Media organizations, etc would help, till the dictator retires for good. But no!

Now I’m waiting to hear if the U.S. Embassy or Government will come out with a statement. Certainly, it’s already a black mark against the conduct of the presidential election which will be upon us soon enough. Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out that this does not mean the end to RFE/RL transmissions in Armenia, but merely it’s an obstacle to reaching its audience.

Assuming that pressure is not applied on Public Radio to sign a new contract, RFE/RL will have to strike a deal with a private radio station (maximum coverage 60 percent of the country if one of the big stations agree) in the best case scenario, or revert back to SW broadcasts in the worst. Even so, it’s an attempt to frustrate proper coverage of the 2008 presidential election, in my opinion. No doubt about it.

What will also be interesting to see is how Public Radio themselves cover this ongoing saga. So far I’ve seen nothing on their web site which really says a lot about what’s behind this.

I was not very surprised to read this news on the Armenia Liberty site earlier today. I guess now that the first effort to “solve the problem” via the parliament failed, this is effort number two.