NATO TOOK NEUTRAL POSITION IN EVERYTHING
Panorama.am
20:13 23/05/06
Special Representative of NATO Secretary General on South Caucasus
issues Robert Simons distrusted the statements of some of our leaders
that in 2015 the Armenian army will completely comply with NATO
standards. “It will not take place at once. It will be impossible
to finish the process by 2015, as it is impossible to graduate the
university at once. Even NATO member states continue their reforms. In
this sense, it is hard to set deadlines and to affirm that reforms
will be over before the set time. It is a continuous process,” he
told a news conference at foreign ministry.
Speaking on Karabakh conflict regulation, R. Simons noted that NATO
is not directly involved in the negotiation process but hopes that
the sides will find a mutually beneficial solution. After that, they
themselves will decide which forces they want to see in those areas –
peacekeeping, frontier or other.
Concurrently, the representative mentioned that NATO supports OSCE
Minsk Group.
Speaking about Russian military bases in Armenia, R. Simons noted
that it is the internal issue of the country to decide if it wants
any military bases in the country. In his words, if Armenia wants the
Russian forces to go, NATO will support the country in doing that as
in Georgia.
Speaking about Armenian-Turkish relations, R. Simons said, “Turkey
is the member of the alliance and consented to implement Individual
Partnership program in Armenia. However, NATO is not going to engage
in the relations between the two countries and will not deal with
their foreign policies. In fact, it is a bilateral issue between
Armenia and Turkey.”