ARMENIA’S LEADERSHIP REMEMBERS KILLED SOLDIERS ON ARMY DAY

ARMENPRESS
Jan 28, 2008

YEREVAN, JANUARY 28, ARMENPRESS: President Robert Kocharian,
prime minister Serzh Sarkisian, other high-ranking government and
parliament officials, army brass and Catholicos Karekin II, head
of the Armenian Church, visited today the Yerablour cemetery on a
Yerevan outskirt to remember all those who died in the battle for
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

They laid flowers at the graves of late prime minister Vazgen
Sarkisian, parliament chairman Karen Demirchian and at a memorial
erected in memory of all killed soldiers. The ceremony was timed to
mark the 16-th anniversary of the establishment of Armenian armed
forces.

Speaking to journalists defense minister Mikael Harutunian said
the Armenian army is getting stronger and more efficient with every
passing year.

"Despite incessant Azerbaijani war rhetoric it does not dare to resume
hostilities and this is evidence of the growing might of our army,
which is ready to rebuff any possible aggression and ensure the
security of our nation,’ the minister said.

The minister downplayed speculations that the army is ready to shift
from mandatory conscription to a contract one.

"In order to have a professional army we need to have a very strong
economy, a strong budget to run a contract army,’ he said, adding also
that shifting to a contract army is contingent , apart from finances,
on some other, particularly, regional factors.

The minister’s remarks came in retaliation to ex-president
Levon Ter-Petrosian’s recent arguments that Armenia could have a
10,000-15,000 army.

"Armenia can not cut the army to that size because that would
jeopardize our security,’ the minister said.

Apart from being a member of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) Armenia participates also in NATO’s Partnership for
Peace (PiP) program. Armenia is also in the process of implementation
of the Individual Partnership Action Plans (IPAP) which it signed with
NATO. IPAP is a program for those countries that have the political
will and ability to deepen their relationship with NATO.

In late 2004, Armenia deployed a unit of 46 soldiers, which included
a logistic, medical and support soldiers to Iraq in support of the
American-led Coalition. Armenia is involved also in peacekeeping
operations in Kosovo, joining the peacekeeping activities in
2004. Armenian 34-member "blue helmets" platoon serve there within
the Greek battalion.

Armenia’s military budget for 2008 will increase 20 percent to 124.366
billion drams (about $380 million).