Defence chief says sending peacekeepers to Iraq Armenia’s task

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
28 Oct 04

Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 28 October headlined “Actually, we have become independent”

Does the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Deputy Defence
Minister Mikael Arutyunyan, not think that the dispatch of Armenian
peacekeepers to Iraq might endanger the security of the Armenian
community in Iraq?

In response to this question of our correspondent yesterday, the deputy
minister said: “Do you think that there are no Georgian or Azerbaijani
communities in Iraq? Of course, there are. But both Azerbaijan and
Georgia think of increasing their presence in Iraq. The point is not
that we fulfil someone’s desire by sending troops to Iraq, we solve
our own tasks. Otherwise, let’s surround our country with a fortress
and say that we cannot step out of this boundary.”

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress