ARMENIAN MINISTER SAYS TIES WITH NATO, USA NOT AT RUSSIA’S OR IRAN’S EXPENSE
Sources:
Mediamax news agency, 7 Mar 06
Regnum, Moscow, 6 Mar 06
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, 6 Mar 06
Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan has said that Armenia wants to
develop cooperation with NATO and the USA but not at Russia’s or
Iran’s expense.
In a wide-ranging interview to Russian journalists in Yerevan on 6
March, the minister said his country “wants to cooperate not just
with NATO but with other countries as well” but the cooperation will
“develop not at the expense of military cooperation between Russia
and Armenia”, Mediamax news agency reported.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying that Armenia and Russia
“are allies, strategic partners and we are not hiding from our western
partners our relations with Russia and the Russian armed forces”.
“We have repeatedly been making public announcements that the presence
of the Russian military base on the territory of the republic and
the Russian-Armenian strategic treaty have been initiated by Armenia
first of all,” the agency quoted the minister as saying.
He said that “hundreds of generals, officers and warrant officers
have been receiving training and refresher training at Russian
military educational establishments and training centres” and
expressed readiness to train Russian troops at a mountain training
base in Armenia.
He added that Armenia “sets the objective of having an army by 2015
which will be in line with international standards” and denied that
NATO troops might be deployed in Armenia if combat activities were
to start in the region.
A separate ITAR-TASS report quoted Sarkisyan as saying that Armenia,
which has a population of about 3m people, is forced to have 45,000
soldiers under arms which has “a deterrent effect” on the situation
in the region.
A separate Mediamax report quoted Sarkisyan as saying that that “the
Armenian armed forces occupy advantageous positions from the point
of view of defence. We have managed to provide these positions with
engineering equipment.” “Our country does not want war and but must
be ready for it,” the minister stated.
Sarkisyan also said that the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict should be
resolved within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and denounced
Baku’s attempts to involve the UN and NATO in the process, Regnum
reported citing the minister ‘s report entitled “National Security
Strategy of the Republic of Armenia”.
The report published on the official website of the Defence Ministry
on 6 March said: “Armenia sees the solution of the Karabakh problem
within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group by means of compromises”.
The minister also hailed “balanced” relations between Armenia and Iran
and the latter’s stance on Karabakh. Regnum quoted him as praising
“Iran’s balanced policy on solving the Karabakh conflict”.
“As a country with a huge economic, military and cultural potential
and an independent foreign policy, Iran plays a key role in the
process of shaping the military and technical situation in the region
and competes with Turkey in the economic and political spheres,” he
said. He added that “competition between Iran and Turkey ensures a
certain balance in the region and against that background Armenia has
been developing cooperation with Iran to neutralize the Turkish-Azeri
bloc’s anti-Armenian policy”.
The minister noted that Armenia’s “cooperation with the USA is not
against Iran’s interests”.