ARMENIAN DEPUTY MINISTER HOPES FOR GREATER CIVILIAN PRESENCE IN DEFENCE SECTOR

Arminfo
5 Feb 07

Armenian Deputy Defence Minister Lt-Gen Artur Agabekyan has said that
the introduction of civilian elements in the defence sector is one
of the most important goals of the country’s military reform process,
the Arminfo news agency reported at 1023 gmt on 5 February.

The agency quoted Agabekyan as telling the seminar "Strengthening
civilian control over the security sector", which was organized
in Yerevan jointly by the Defence Ministry and the George Marshall
European Centre for Security Studies, "On the basis of the bill on a
special civilian service, which has been developed and will shortly
be presented in parliament, new civilian posts will be introduced in
the ministry and the defence sector and their activities will not be
directly connected to military ones."

Agabekyan said that existing defence legislation does not correspond
to current realities and impedes the democratization and modernization
of the armed forces. "The activity of the armed forces is regulated
by laws that were adopted about 10 years ago, and our task is to
bring these laws into line with contemporary demands," he said.

At 1120 gmt, Arminfo quoted Agabekyan as telling journalists that the
goal of Armenia’s security sector reform has never been to join NATO.

Agabekyan said that Armenian policy involves cooperation with NATO
and also in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) with
Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He
said that this cooperation is ultimately aimed at modernizing defence
systems.

"It is necessary to approach the process of defence reform
comprehensively, and reforms can be classified in three stages:
management of conceptual principles; development of military doctrine;
and implementation of legislative reforms. The reform process has
begun and will be completed in 2015. This process includes the task
of modernizing the army and the entire defence system, enhancing
security and eliminating potential threats," he said.

He said that the development of the military doctrine should be
completed this year.

At 1003 gmt, Arminfo quoted the deputy director of the German Marshall
Centre, Maj-Gen Horst Schmalfeld as saying that it is up to Armenia to
decide for itself how closely it wishes to develop relations with NATO.