Armenian opposition party condemns decision to send troops to Iraq
Noyan Tapan news agency
13 Sep 04
Yerevan, 13 September: The Armenian authorities’ decision to send a
50-strong Armenian military unit to Iraq under the command of the
Polish military contingent is premature and “simply selfish”, the
chairman of the Democratic Party of Armenia and a National Assembly
member from the Justice bloc, Aram Sarkisyan, has said in an interview
with a Noyan Tapan correspondent.
He noted that his party roundly condemned this step and called on
National Assembly members to vote down the Armenian authorities’
agreement to send Armenian servicemen to Iraq.
“If our powers that be had explained to the USA on time that Armenia
had a unique position with a large diaspora all over the world and
in Arab countries in the first place, I think this would not have
happened. Instead, the Armenian authorities are trying, as they
believe, to win the USA round,” Aram Sarkisyan said.
In the opinion of the Democratic Party leader, Armenian servicemen
should be dispatched when stability is established and peaceful
reconstruction starts in Iraq. It cannot be ruled out in the current
situation, he believes, that Armenians will be taken hostage, and in
this context, the blast at the major Christian church in Baghdad was
kind of a signal.
Aram Sarkisyan expressed his perplexity over the fact that
Armenian servicemen would be stationed in Iraq within the Polish
contingent. “Poland is a NATO member, and our authorities have all
of a sudden forgotten that Armenia is a member of the CIS Collective
Security Treaty Organization. This decision is completely confusing
from the point of view of political culture.”
The Democratic Party chairman is confident that the decision
to send Armenian servicemen to Iraq runs counter to the national
interests. “While a country like Spain is withdrawing troops from Iraq,
Armenia wants to be swept into this vortex.”
The Democratic Party has issued a statement condemning this decision
of the Armenian authorities. The statement calls on the Armenian
public to take an active civic position on this issue.