US Team Inspects Armenian Military

Journal of Turkish Weekly
May 8 2005

A team of U.S. military officials met with Armenian Defense Minister
Serzh Sarkisian on Friday after completing an unprecedented inspection
of the Armenian Armed Forces that highlighted growing defense
cooperation between Yerevan and Washington, Armenian media reported.

Sarkisian’s press service said the U.S. delegation led by Colonel
Michael Andersen came away satisfied from their “defense evaluation”
of Armenian army units and thanked the Armenian military for its
“sincerity and transparency.”

Armenian forces attacked Azerbaijan almost a decade ago and with
the Russian military assistance occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani
territories. Armenian military further attacked Naxchivan province,
but when Turkey warned Armenia not to do so, the forces were
withdrawn. However 20 percent of Azerbaijan has been under Armenian
occupation and the EU named Armenia ‘occupier’ and ‘aggressive’.

“Colonel Andersen noted that although the Armenian army is relatively
young, it already has many things to be proud of,” Armenian Defense
Ministry said in a statement. “The colonel was particularly impressed
with care shown toward soldiers and maintenance of the military
hardware.” However the Armenian Ministry did not expressed whether the
US team asked when Armenian forces will be withdrawn the neighboring
Azerbaijan. The US imposed embargo against Syria for occupying Lebanon,
but did nothing against Armenia.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has not explained the purpose of the
inspection of its forces. Armenia has a strong military relations
with Russian Federation. Yerevan is considered the only Caucasian
ally for Russia while Georgia and Azerbaijan develop good relations
with the EU, USA and Israel.

JTW with news agencies 8 May 2005