“ARMENIA DECIDED TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAQ? WHY?”

Azg/am
5 Oct 04

Arab Newspaper Gives Some Advices

“Urgent news coming from Armenia don’t predict a good outcome and it
becomes certain that this honest state, which has unsolved territorial
problems with neighboring Azerbaijan, has decided to campaign against
its seventh neighbor. Why?”, the Azzaman, an Arab newspaper published
in London, writes in its September 12 article titled “Advices for
Armenia”.

“Armenia decided to send a squad of 50 soldiers to become victims of
kidnappers – We are not ready to protect Armenian soldiers and advise
that they bring bodyguards with them to stay as long as they will be
in this land burnt under the feet of our friends and enemies”, Azzaman
writes.

This article would not be of much importance if not the fact that it
expresses the position of the Iraqi society about the Armenian group
of deminers, drivers and doctors to be sent to Iraq. The author of the
article uses suchwords as “squad” and “campaign against Iraq”.

A retired Iraqi official was reporting lately. He was certainly aware
of Armenia’s decision to send 50 unarmed people. “‘Armenia Sends
Troops, Joins American Coalition’, this was the headline of all Iraq
newspapers today”, he said.

Iraqi Armenians (a considerable part of whom are survivors of the
Armenian Genocide) pointed at different occasions that Armenian
presence may endanger the future of Iraqi Armenians as (no matter that
the group will join Americans only for humanitarian purposes) Armenia
is still joining the Americans, Iraq’s occupants and murderers of
Arabs.

Armenian authorities promised the US (probably under pressure) to
contribute to the war on terror. Therefore it will be wrong to break
the promise because the US may, the least, condemn Armenia of dropping
out of the anti-terror fight. President Bush warned after 9/11 saying:
“You are either with us or against us”.

Armenian media’s critical coverage of the group sending obviously
makes the authorities frustrated. So, the defense minister Serge
Sargisian stated during his televised appearance: “Why fall behind
Georgia and Azerbaijan?” But why did Armenia fall behind the two
neighbors in the case of Afghanistan? Why didn’t we send deminers,
doctors and drivers to Afghanistan? The fact that the Afghan
mojahedins fought against the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh could
bevalid grounds for joining the anti-Afghani campaign.

Is Armenia sincere in claiming that it joins the US anti-terror war?
If yes (that is, if Saddam Hussein was somehow connected with Al Qaeda
and Iraq was a threat for the world community) then why did only 30
states out of 191 UN support America?

Vartan Oskanian, foreign minister, notes that Armenia is ready to
contribute to Iraq in the humanitarian sphere. Again a question comes
up: isn’t it possible that Armenia support Iraq without joining the US
coalition? Why doTurkey, US’s close ally, and Jordan succeed in this?

There may also be other questions addressed to the Armenian
government. For instance, why did Yerevan refer to the UN’s
legislation in case of Yugoslavia’ s bombing and didn’t in case of
Iraq?

The Azzaman goes on with advices: “Armenia’s calculations are obsolete
as there is no time to sign treaties now, when America faces
elections. Neither the 50 soldiers will save Bush, nor will they
influence social researches in favour of Kerry”.

“Armenia has dropped its mask. If it tends to be part of the
multinational forces then we are ready to provide a place in `red’s
knick-knack market’ adding a ration card, certificate of death and a
videotape of being kidnapped”, newspaper writes.

By Tatoul Hakobian