Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan,
Jan 27 2007

Armenia to have professional army in future – deputy defence minister

[Presenter] A new platoon of peacekeepers left Yerevan for Iraq
today. The Armenian group is comprised of over 40 servicemen –
doctors, mine cleaners and drivers. Those peacekeepers who have
served their six-month terms in Iraq will return in early February.
Deputy Defence Minister Artur Aghabekyan saw the peacekeepers off
today. He said that in the future Armenia will have more
peacekeepers.

[Correspondent over video of soldiers marching] The Armenian
peacekeeping battalion achieves new frontiers year after year. Over
the three years, this is the fifth group leaving for Iraq on a
peacekeeping mission. The first group consisted of only mine cleaners
and drivers. Then doctors were also included, and now, officers
joined them. Over these years, the Armenian peacekeepers acquired
enough experience to send officers to Iraq from the [peacekeeping]
battalion. These officers will hold posts in the staffs of both the
multinational division and the centre-south corps.

[Deputy Defence Minister Artur Aghabekyan] This is an honour because
the demand has forced us to make changes, and I have to proudly
mention today that our servicemen will continue to contribute [to
peacekeeping operations in Iraq] through their mission.

[Correspondent] Very soon, Armenia’s peacekeeping battalion will be
reorganized into a brigade, the deputy defence minister said, while
the task was to set up a battalion by 2010.

[Artur Aghabekyan] We will have a peacekeeping brigade by the time
when we were supposed to have a battalion. It may not be complete,
but at least two of the battalions [of the brigade] and the
administration will be complete.

[Correspondent] Based on this core, we will have a professional army
in the future. The legislation is already being improved for that.
The defence minister has already passed a decision to have
professional sergeants in the army.

[Artur Aghabekyan] There will be a person between the officers and
privates – a professional sergeant, who understands well the officers
and understands well the privates conscripted to the army for a
mandatory service. That bond will strengthen our units to make them
more capable.

[Correspondent] Aghabekyan said that Senior Lieutenant Georgiy
Nalbandyan, who was wounded in Iraq, is in good health. He is now
being treated in a military hospital in Ramstein, Germany. The head
of the ministry’s medical service department will learn about his
treatment and the conditions for making a prosthesis for him.