ARMENIAN COMMUNIST LEADER OPPOSES NATO’S INFLUENCE ON REGION

Arminfo
13 Mar 07

Yerevan, 13 March: Strengthening [the position] of NATO in Armenia
in fact is strengthening [the position] of Turkey, Ruben Tovmasyan,
first secretary of the Armenian Communist Party Central Committee,
has told Arminfo.

He said claims that the increase of NATO’s influence in the region
is not directed against Russia are groundless because a rightful
question arises: why does NATO exist then?

"The Warsaw Treaty Organization does not exist any more; why, then,
does NATO continue working actively?" he asks.

He said that if NATO’s attitude to Armenia was really positive then
it should influence Turkey, which has imposed a blockade on Armenia
with an excuse of the unsettled Karabakh conflict. Tovmasyan said
that the country’s security can only be ensured within the [CIS]
Collective Security Treaty Organization.

He made the statement amid the NATO week under way in Armenia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress