U.S. DONATES MILITARY HOSPITAL TO ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Feb 5 2007

The United States has provided the Armenian army with a mobile field
hospital which it hopes will help to widen Yerevan’s participation
in Western-led military operations.

The $1.2 million facility, inaugurated by U.S. and Armenian officials
at the weekend, will be part of a special battalion of Armenia’s
Armed Forces that provides troops for the U.S.-led occupation force
in Iraq and the NATO-led peace-keeping contingent in Kosovo. The
opening ceremony followed a week-long training course that was held
by U.S. instructors for 43 Armenian medical personnel assigned to
operate the Mobile Expeditionary Medical Support (EMEDS) hospital.

Lieutenant Colonel Doug Peterson, chief of the Office of Defense
Cooperation at the U.S. embassy in Armenia, said the donation marked
the beginning of "intensive medical training and cooperation between"
the Armenian and U.S. militaries. The hospital will receive more U.S.
equipment later this year or early next, he said.

According to Anthony Godfrey, the U.S. charge d’affaires in Yerevan,
the assistance is meant to facilitate "future Armenian military
deployments with coalition or NATO forces" stationed in various
conflict zones. He indicated last month that Washington would welcome
Armenian involvement in the alliance’s ongoing multinational mission
in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military had already provided significant assistance to
the Armenian peace-keeping battalion. The Armenian Defense Ministry
plans to expand the volunteer unit into an army brigade in the next
few years.

Its creation in 2003 reflected Yerevan’s desire to "complement"
the military alliance with Russia with closer security ties with
NATO and the U.S. in particular. The dispatch of a small contingent
of Armenian troops to Iraq in January 2005 underscored the policy
change. The Armenian parliament extended the unpopular mission by
another year last December.

As part of that policy, the Armenian leadership has also embarked
on a of reform of the armed forces which is supposed to bring their
structure and practices closer to Western standards. It involves,
among other things, a gradual "civilianization" of the Armenian Defense
Ministry which is almost fully staffed by army officers at present.

This and other aspects of the reform were discussed at an international
seminar that opened in Yerevan on Monday. The three-day forum was
organized by the Defense Ministry and the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies, a renowned institution financed by the
U.S. and German governments. Among its 60 participants are defense
officials from Estonia, Latvia and Bulgaria, ex-Communist countries
that were admitted to NATO after implementing similar reforms.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the seminar, Deputy Defense
Minister Artur Aghabekian again made it clear that Armenia has no
ambition to join NATO in the foreseeable future.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress