FORMER DEFENCE MINISTER: THE NATO’S IPAP CANNOT BE AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY FOR ARMENIA
ARMINFO
Monday, January 21, 12:56
The programme on partner relations between Armenia and NATO within
the frames of Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed
in December 2005, cannot be an alternative to Collective Security
Treaty for Armenia, former defence minister of Armenia, Vagarshak
Harutyunyan, said at the roundtable “Euro-Atlantic community and
problems of Armenia” held at the Eurasian Studies Institute.
“According to IPAP, the aid to Armenia is just of the theoretical
nature. At the same time, within the frames of this programme, in
fact using its own funds Armenia supports the peacekeeping brigade,
directing it to the regions where the NATO operations are held. It
also has been implementing the obligations on democratizing of the
country, that has nothing in common to the security problems. I also
think that several points of IPAP are inadmissible for Armenia, in
particular, Armenia’s conventional disengagement and establishment
of civilian positions, as these points reduce combat effectiveness
of the Armenian army”, – Harutyunyan said.
He said that one should take into consideration that security of
the NATO member-states is one thing and security of Armenia is quite
another thing, as Armenia faces an open military threat stemming from
Turkey. “For Armenia, being in a rather hard geo-political situation,
the problem of ensuring security is the key one. But the documents
signed between NATO and Armenia suppose no obligation in the matter of
giving security guarantees to Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh . For this
reason, for Armenia IPAP cannot be an alternative to the Collective
Security Treaty, which fixed strict obligations on providing Armenia’s
security”, – he said.
From: A. Papazian