SERGE SARGSYAN: EXTERNAL CHALLENGES CANNOT BRING US TO OUR KNEES
Tatul Hakobyan

Radiolur
29.10.2007 13:25

During the one-week stay in the United States RA Prime Minister
Serge Sargsyan gave interviews to the Los Angeles Times newspaper,
the Reuters and Associated press agencies. In an interview with
the New Jersey based Armenian Reporter Serge Sargsyan turned to
Armenian-Turkish relations, the Karabakh issue, the relations with
Iran and the domestic developments in Armenia.

Excerpts from the interview entitled "External challenges cannot
bring us to our knees" are presented below.

In the interview with the Armenian Reporter, the Prime Minister said
the unresolved nature of the Karabakh conflict is indeed the biggest
challenge to Armenia’s security. Azerbaijan increases its military
budget annually, and promises that the military expenses will soon
equal the whole budget of Armenia. Actually, an arms race has started
in the Caucasus, which is provoked by official Baku.

PM Serge Sargsyan said the only way is to further develop Armenia’s
economy and continue to care for the battle-readiness of the
Armenian armed forces. There is no secret that should Azerbaijan
launch provocations over Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia would not remain
indifferent. It is in fact the case that today Azerbaijan has more
funds than we do. But money alone cannot produce a battle-ready army,
especially in a relatively short period of time. And we too are now
forced and are able to spend considerable sums on defense. I do not
believe that a difference of half a billion dollars can result in
Azerbaijan’s superiority over Armenia. The experience of the early
1990s shows that Azerbaijan’s considerable superiority over us, in
terms of funds, manpower and weapons, could not be translated into
superiority on the battlefield.

Turning to the Armenian Genocide, Serge Sargsyan said the fact of the
genocide is already a danger. The only way to achieve reconciliation
is through admission of mistakes. We are not blaming today’s Turkey,
modern-day Turkish government for the genocide. He reminded that
for many years Armenia’s policy has been establishment of diplomatic
relations without any pre-conditions.

Referring to Yerevan-Tehran relations, PM Serge Sargsyan said Iran is
a very important country. "For us, this is just one of two countries
that serve as conduits to the rest of the world. Iran is an energy-rich
country and that helps us address our economic security challenges. For
these reasons, we are not ready for any other approaches. And I
believe we will continue our relations with Iran," Mr. Sargsyan noted.