FIRST GROUP OF ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPERS RETURNED HOME FROM IRAQ
Pan ARMENIAN Network, Armenia
July 21 2005
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The first group of the 12th peacekeeping battalion
of the Armed Forces of Armenia today returned to Yerevan from Iraq.
Meeting them Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia Artur Aghabekyan
stated, “I personally, as well as the whole staff of the Armed Forces
of Armenia and the MOD are proud of our soldiers.” “Our peacekeepers
are capable to fulfill the task they were commissioned with. They
proved it and they will be awarded by the MOD,” he said. As noted
by Aghabekyan, during the peacekeepers’ 6-month stay in Iraq,
no complaints were received from the Armenian community: on the
contrary, many community members wished to visit their compatriots.
In his words, 45 out of the 46 peacekeepers are home at the moment,
while one of them was moved to Baghdad and appointed liaison officer of
the multinational corps. When commenting on the opportunity sending a
third group of peacekeepers, Aghabekyan noted the National Assembly of
Armenia earlier adopted a decision on sending peacekeepers for a term
of a year. The second group will return this December, and if Armenia
receives an official document on continuation of the peacekeeping
mission, the respective resolution will be passed. “Troops are ready to
fulfill a new peacekeeping mission in any region if the Minister orders
to,” Aghabekyan stated. As of the possible sending of peacekeepers
to Afghanistan the Armenian Deputy Defense Minister remarked Armenia
continues examining the question. However, Armenia has not received a
specific proposal yet. “We should not wait for proposals. We should
always be ready to fulfill peacekeeping missions the Armenia-NATO
cooperation provides for,” he noted. When commenting on Lebanon’s
proposal on sending Armenian sappers to the country, the MOD official
noted that no official proposal was received yet. Aghabekyan also
reminded that IPAP Armenian Presentation Document was appreciated by
the NATO and Armenia will present the Plan of Actions within the IPAP.