Interfax
Dec 27 2004

Armenia parliament okays sending troops to Iraq

Yerevan. (Interfax) – Armenia’s parliament, after a seven- hour
closed-door debate, approved a plan to send a group of military
specialists to Iraq for one year, a project rejected by opposition
groups, which say it is a security threat to Armenia and the Armenian
diaspora.

Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian told reporters 46 specialists would
go to Iraq.

“Despite the fact that the specific date for the servicemen’s
departure for Iraq has not yet been set, the Armenian side is ready
to send its military specialists to Iraq as early as on January 5,”
he said.

“After the Armenian military specialists have been sent to Iraq,
international organizations and states that are involved in combating
terrorism will take a more objective attitude to all three South
Caucasus states,” Sarkisian said.

He said the other two states, Azerbaijan and Georgia, had long sent
their troops to Iraq.

“Armenia cannot have stayed aside from actions by other states that
are aimed at peace and stability, and at combating terrorism. I think
that the U.S. needs Armenian support in Iraq, otherwise there would
be no such decision,” the minister said.

He said the United States was taking on most of the funding for the
stay of the Armenian servicemen in Iraq.

He said the Armenian military specialists would be involved only in
humanitarian operations and that they would receive their equipment
when they arrived in Iraq.

Opposition groups both within and outside parliament have argued that
sending Armenian servicemen to Iraq would threaten the Armenian
diaspora and Armenia itself where there is an operating nuclear power
plant.