Armenian minister sees no need for NATO membership, hails ties with Russia

Azg, Yerevan
18 Dec 04

Text of Tatul Akopyan report by Armenian newspaper Azg on 18 December
headlined “Armenian-Russian strategic alliance has no alternative
today”

Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan sees no need for Armenia
to join NATO.

Serzh Sarkisyan stated yesterday 17 December that relations between
Armenia and NATO will deepen and develop as long “as there are
not in conflict with our obligations under the Collective Security
Treaty”. There is currently no need for Armenia to put the issue
of NATO membership on its foreign policy agenda but this does not
mean that we should not develop our relations with the organization,
Sarkisyan said during a round table on the issue of regional security.

Yerevan and Brussels have made an obvious progress in their relations
in the last few years. Speaking about Armenia-NATO relations,
Sarkisyan said that Armenia has participated in 47 events and five
military exercises of the organization in 2004 and is going to increase
the number.

Armenian and Russian political leaders and US representatives took
part in the round table discussion. Serzh Sarkisyan took the floor to
speak about Armenia-NATO, Armenia-Russia, Armenia-EU relations and
the system of regional security in particular. “The Armenia-Russian
military alliance has no alternative today,” he said, adding that
relations with Russia won’t get in the way of its efforts to integrate
more closely with Europe especially in the event that Russia and
Europe will come closer together. The minister noted that cooperation
between Armenia and Russia in the military sphere has been reflected
in dozens of pages.

Serzh Sarkisyan hailed Armenia’s relationship with the European
Union as the key one. Our country exports 40 per cent of its goods
to Europe. He praised “brilliant military interaction” between the
Armenian and Greek peacekeepers in Kosovo. The Minister of Defence
noted that Armenia is the only country in the South Caucasus which
pursues a balanced policy. He thinks that cooperation between regional
countries will be possible one day, having recalled the fact that
European states such as England, France and Germany have the history
of centuries-long enmity but they are now allies.

Levon Lazarian, representative of the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation – Dashnaktsutyun, spoke about other areas of cooperation on
top of the one mentioned by the minister. He singled out relations with
Iran and the Arab world. Lazarian recalled two facts from the past:
firstly, Iran provided Armenia with a road, which was the only road at
the time when Armenia was blockaded on three sides, secondly by taking
a neutral stance on the Karabakh conflict, Tehran prevented it from
turning into a religious one, something which Azerbaijan strived for.