ARMENIAN DM AWARDS PEACEKEEPERS FOR SUCCESSFUL SERVICE IN IRAQ

Mediamax News Agency, Armenia
Oct 11 2005

Yerevan, 11 October: Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan today
thanked the Armenian peacekeepers serving in Iraq “for successfully
implementing their task”.

Serzh Sarkisyan said this at a ceremony to award the Armenian
servicemen who participated in the international peacekeeping operation
in Iraq, Mediamax news agency reports.

The first rotation of the Armenian peacekeeping contingent, which
serves in Iraq as part of the multinational division under the Polish
command, took place this July. The first non-combatant unit of the
Armenian armed forces, which consists of sappers, medical officers
and drivers, left for Iraq in February 2005.

“You represented the Armenian armed forces in Iraq with credit and
promoted the authority of your motherland. Striving to integrate into
the European family, Armenia cannot stay away from problems facing this
family. We cannot remain indifferent, which is why we are carrying out
peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Iraq,” the defence minister said.