INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR WITHIN SRARLINK PROGRAM’S FRAMEWORK HELD IN YEREVAN FOR THE FIRST TIME

Noyan Tapan
Mar 13 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 13, NOYAN TAPAN. An international seminar organized
within the framework of the Starlink program started its activities
in Yerevan on March 11. This event organized with joint efforts of
the Armenian Atlantic Association and the Security Institute of the
Netherlands is being held in Armenia for the first time. John Botra,
representative of the Security Institute of the Netherlands, told
reporters that Starlink is an educational program, which aims to deal
with the security sphere management problems and is financed by the
Dutch Foreign Ministry.

He noted that the program’s application started as far back as 10 years
ago in Central Europe, later it was also applied in South-Eastern
Europe. The program is being implemented in Moldova, Ukraine and
Georgia, and at the moment an attempt is made to determine whether
such a program would be of interest to Armenia.

“We know very well that Armenia is in a somewhat different state,
that there are some problems here, for example, the Karabakh conflict,
but we are not directly involved in the settlement of this problem,”
John Botra noted.

According to him, the program is related to technical problems
of security such as defence systems, their management, activity
transparency and accountability to society.

According to former Dutch defence minister Van Eekele, such seminars
are quite important for the security systems of both East and West. “I
understand that there are various security systems, and such events
are intended for improvement of such systems, their better management
and democratization,” he noted.

Despina Afentuli, Armenian Executive of the NATO Public Diplomacy
Directorship, said that further development of Armenia’s relations
with NATO will depend on the opinion that the country’s civil society
has regarding this issue.

He attached importance to the role of NGOs in forming such an opinion.