Ara Tadevosian: Armenia edges closer to NATO

Providence Journal , RI
June 28 2005

YEREVAN, Armenia – ARMENIA’S defense minister, Sarah Sarkisian,
and the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiztion,
Jalap de Hoop Schaffer, have come to an agreement that many see as
proof of a strategic shift by Armenia toward the West.

At a meeting in Brussels this month, Sarkisian presented de Hoop
Schaffer with a so-called Individual Partnership Action Plan
from Armenia, as well as a letter from Armenian President Robert
Kocharian. Such action plans submitted to NATO detail the political
and military steps that a country will take to deepen its relations
with the alliance; they’re considered the first step toward applying
for membership.

The event marked a breakthrough in relations between Armenia and
NATO, which were once quite frosty. Since gaining independence from
the former Soviet Union, in 1991, Armenia has been a close military
ally of Russia’s. Moscow still maintains a large military base in
Yuri, Armenia.

But a slight cooling of relations with Russia — coupled with overtures
from the West and indications that neighboring Georgia and Azerbaijan
might soon also seek NATO membership — have changed the strategic
picture in the region.

Earlier this year, Armenian Defense Minister Sarkisian clearly
signaled his country’s growing orientation toward the West. “After
we set ourselves the goal of joining the European family,” he said,
“we must have close relations with NATO and be responsible for
guaranteeing security in Europe.”

In fact, Armenia and NATO have been developing closer relations for
several years. In 2003, Armenia played host to NATO military exercises,
and in 2004 it sent peacekeeping troops to join the international
presence in Kosovo.

Moscow has made clear that it still considers Armenia a vital ally.
It recently began moving military equipment out of its bases in
Georgia to its large facility in northern Armenia.

But, in a sign of how the political atmosphere is changing in
Armenia, the leading official in the opposition Republic Party, Suren
Sureniants, criticized the move. He said that it “only reinforced the
prevailing opinion in the West that Armenia is Russia’s forward post
in the Caucasus.” Sureniants also said that “the Armenian political
elite ought to raise the issue of the withdrawal of Russian bases
from the territory of our country.”

Still, many Armenians remain deeply suspicious of NATO. Some continue
to regard Russia as a more reliable ally. Others are troubled that
Turkey, longtime enemy of Armenia, is a key NATO member.

“If NATO needs us so badly,” said Yeravan resident Misak Alexanian,
“why doesn’t it force Turkey to open its border with Armenia?”

Armenian President Kocharian refused to attend a NATO summit in
Istanbul last year, because of Turkey’s refusal to begin diplomatic
relations with Armenia and to open their shared border.

Yet Armenians have welcomed NATO’s position on Azerbaijan. Last
September, the alliance canceled a planned military exercise there
after Azerbaijan refused to let Armenian officers participate in
the maneuvers.

For now, Armenia finds itself in two worlds: It remains a key member
of the Russian-led Collective Security Pact of the Commonwealth
of Independent States even as it develops a growing relationship
with NATO.

Ronald D. Asmus, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall
Fund of the United States and a senior adjunct fellow at the Council
on Foreign Relations, in Washington, says that Armenia “needs to
try to pursue a dual-track strategy, where it expands its outreach
to this region and tries to deepen its cooperation with Moscow in
parallel. It is clearly in our, as well as Armenia’s, interest that
we succeed in doing so.”

Armenia will also have to bring its armed forces under civilian
control — not an easy task in a country where the military is a
major political force.

The country now has two years to implement its Individual Partnership
Action Plan for entry into NATO. After that, it will be up to Armenia’s
next president — due to be elected in 2008 — to decide whether to
pursue formal NATO membership.

Ara Tadevosian is a journalist in Armenia who writes for The Institute
for War & Peace Reporting, a London-based nonprofit organization that
trains journalists in regions of conflict ().