Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 14, 2005, Friday

ARMENIA CHUMS UP WITH NATO

SOURCE: Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier, No 1, January 12 – 18, 2005, p.
3

by Samvel Martirosjan

Meeting of the working team of the NATO Military Committee took place
in Yerevan in December 2004. Representatives of 34 states, (23 NATO
members and 11 partners) attended it. Ukraine and Georgia represented
the Commonwealth.

The meeting reiterates the assumption that the Alliance is keeping
Armenia in the focus of its close attention. Co-operation between
Brussels and Yerevan was on purely familiarization terms for years,
until last year in fact when the former Soviet republic began an
active drift towards integration into structures of what once had
been the enemy of the Soviet Union. NATO ran its Co-operative Best
Effort exercise in Armenia in summer 2003. In 2004, it cancelled a
similar exercise in Azerbaijan because the local authorities refused
to permit Armenian servicemen to participate.

By the way, activities of the working team of the NATO Military
Committee in Yerevan may be viewed as another meaningful gesture. At
first, meetings were planned in all capitals of the southern part of
the Caucasus. Azerbaijan however, refused to deal with the Armenian
delegation and Brussels decided that official Baku had to be
punished.

In the meantime, co-operation between Yerevan and the Alliance is
broadening. In 2004, representatives of the Armenian Defense Ministry
participated in approximately 40 functions (including five exercises)
within the framework of the NATO’s Partnership for Peace Program. In
2005, Russia’s ally in the Caucasus intends to participate in 50
functions (including eight exercises).

The same rapprochement can be seen on the political plane as well.
The Armenian National Assembly ratified a number of documents that
provide a legal basis for broader co-operation with NATO. Another
document is being worked on because Yerevan volunteered to join the
Individual Partnership Action Plan in 2004. Twenty-three objectives
of this partnership were discussed and adopted within the framework
of PARP consultations in Brussels (19 1 i.e. NATO plus Armenia).

Armenia began participating in NATO peacekeeping operations in 2004.
A platoon of Armenian servicemen (subunit of the Greek contingent)
set out for Kosovo on February 13. Scheduled rotation of the unit
took place on September 8.

Yerevan wants more than that. Addressing the NATO Military Committee,
Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Arthur Agabekjan announced
that his country intends to form a peacekeeping contingent in line
with NATO standards for fully-fledged participation in exercises and
peacekeeping operations within the framework of the NATO’s
Partnership for Peace Program. “It will enable us to form units
compatible with NATO troops,’ Agabekjan said, “They will be able to
perform all sorts of missions and participate in peacekeeping
operations.”

“Armenian-NATO relations moved to a wholly new plane. We are
advancing them in accordance with the policy of European integration
and on the basis of mutual trust and mutual welfare,” Agabekjan
continued. The officer proceeded to air the official opinion that
Yerevan’s interest in co-operation with Brussels was a corollary of
its long-term plans to build statehood and security. Armenia proceeds
towards integration with the European security framework but the lack
of stability in the southern part of the Caucasus interferes with the
process, Agabekjan said. “Our suggestions on co-operation in the
sphere of defense are negated by Azerbaijan that always comes up with
conditions and sometimes even ultimatums,” Agabekjan said. This
tactic preferred by official Baku collides with the spirit of
European security and does not align with NATO’s position.

Serzh Sarkisjan, Defense Minister and Secretary of the Security
Council, brought up the same subject several days later. Sarkisjan
emphasized in his program statement that membership in NATO was not
on the Armenian foreign political agenda. “At the same time, our
country takes a pragmatic look on the situation in the region.
Instead of coming up with untimely statements, we develop relations
with the Alliance systematically. From this point of view, it will
not be wrong to say that the Armenian-NATO relations play their own
important role in the system of national security, “Sarkisjan said.
According to the minister, Armenia follows the road of European
development and NATO is the central institution of European security.

As far as Euro integration is concerned, the minister’s opinion does
not differ from the major social tendencies in Armenia. Results of
the opinion poll conducted by the Center of National and Strategic
Studies indicate that 64% of the population and 92% of experts would
like to see Armenia a member of the European Union.

Back to Sarkisjan. The minister outlined the frontiers of
co-operation with the Alliance. “… It should be noted that
relations with NATO will develop unless some serious discord between
our international obligations crops up,” he said. “I’d like to point
out therefore that the Charter of the Organization of the CIS
Collective Security Treaty does not restrict its member’s freedom of
co-operation with foreign countries and international organizations.
At the same time, undeniable rapprochement of the positions of the
Organization and the Alliance on a number of issues and presence of
common threats and problems permits me to say that the potential of
development of our relations with NATO is quite considerable. It will
not be a mistake to say that co-operation within the framework of the
Organization of the CIS Collective Security Treaty and co-operation
with NATO are mutually complementary since they create additional
guarantees of security for Armenia and the region as such.”

Sarkisjan emphasized it is the Armenian-Russian relations that
maintain military security and regional parity. The minister referred
to the CIS United Antiaircraft Defense System to illustrate. “Along
with that, strategic relations between Armenia and Russia cannot
serve as an obstacle to the process of Armenian Euro integration.
Moreover, the Russia-EU rapprochement enables Armenia to combine
these two priorities, perfecting our national security and the
regional security framework as such,” Sarkisjan said.

Translated by A. Ignatkin