ARMENIA READY TO CONTRIBUTE TO ESTABLISHING PEACE AND NORMALIZING SITUATION IN CONFLICT ZONES (INTERVIEW)
By Mariam Levina
news.am
June 14, 2012 | 00:51
Interview of the head of Arms Control and International Security
Department at the Armenian MFA Samvel Lazarian to Armenian
News-NEWS.am.
How do you assess Armenia’s participation in international peacekeeping
activities?
It is definitely a positive development. Politically, involvement in
peacekeeping is improving the international image of our country. This
means that we care about international security problems and Armenia
is ready to contribute to establishing peace and ensuring the success
of those political processes which lead to the normalization of the
situation in conflict zones.
Another advantage is that our servicemen have a great opportunity
not only to improve their skills but often serve as an example,
to establish the necessary contacts to represent our country. I was
witnessing it when I met our soldiers in Kosovo a few years ago.
Armenia has serious plans for involvement in the UN peacekeeping
activities. CSTO may provide such an opportunity as well.
Presently the Armenian troops are participating in two missions –
in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Do you expect to change the format of
participation in the near future?
In December 2011 Armenian peacekeepers were withdrawn from Kosovo
after seven years of service due to reasons not depending on us. This
was due to financial difficulties in Greece. Our troops have been
deployed and served within the Greek battalion. At the moment we are
actively holding talks to return to KFOR mission in the partnership
with one of the NATO states.
As to Afghanistan, the first deployment of the Armenian troops in
Kunduz was carried out in early 2010. A year later, the number of
our military continent tripled reaching 126. As you know, NATO has
already made a decision to withdraw the main military forces by the
end of 2014. Our position, which was recently announced by Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian at the Chicago summit, is that we will
stay in the country until the end of this period, and after 2014 will
continue to provide all possible assistance to the Afghan authorities.
How do you assess the work of the Armenian side within the framework
of the CSTO, and specifically in the development of CollectiveRapid
Reaction Force ?
Armenia is a very active member of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization. We not only adopted and ratified the majority of
new agreements within the framework of the Organization, but are
also putting forward proposals and initiatives to strengthen and
raise the efficiency of the CSTO. This is particularly related to
structural changes, steps aimed at a higher level of integration and
the deepening of military and military-technical cooperation. The
activities of the Armenian side were highly appreciated. Secretary
General of CSTO Nikolay Bordyuzha noted that during its presidency
in 2008-2009 Armenia, a number of complex documents were adopted with
the support of the Armenian leadership.
The Ministry of Defense, National Security Council, the Ministries
of Economy and Finance and other institutions are actively involved
in the CSTO activities.
The efforts to coordinate positions in the international agencies
have been recently intensified.
The meetings were held and joint statements were approved on various
topics, including on the issues of UN General Assembly agenda.
This year, a separate diplomatic mission in Armenia at the Organization
opened under the decree of President Serzh Sargsyan. Ara Badalyan was
appointed a permanent representative to the CSTO. Our representatives
are actively involved in the work of the secretariat as well.
Can you tell a bit more about the upcoming collectiverapid reaction
force exercise?
The exercise titled “Interaction 2012” will be held this September.
During the exercise the servicemen will work out actions in a crisis
situation. It’s actually a large anti-terrorist operation with the
involvement of civil services, police and other agencies.
What is the direction of developing cooperation with NATO, noting
that Armenia repeatedly stated it does not set a goal of membership
in the Alliance?
Our relations with NATO can be characterized as a partnership. We
established relations in early 90s with the involvement in the
activities of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC),
later within the Partnership for Peace program and Euro-Atlantic
Partnership Council. It is necessary to stress that these relations
were developing progressively toward expanding areas of cooperation,
enhancing mutual trust in the political dialogue at various levels.
Since 2006, we have a solid basis for bilateral cooperation. As the
Alliance was undergoing reforms and expanding the forms of cooperation
with partners, it became necessary to develop individual formats
that are best matched to the needs of each partner country. For
this purpose, n Armenia and NATO agreed on Individual Partnership
Action Plan (IPAP). We have recently started the implementation of
the third stage of IPAP, a document that covers political issues,
defense, emergency situations and science.
Armenia has strong, efficient, highly organized Armed Forces. However,
many things are changing around us, it is necessary to carry out
reforms to preserve what we have achieved and to raise it to a
new level. To make the reforms effective, we need to learn the best
practices, learn about recent achievements in building the armed forces
and adapt them to our needs. This is particularly urgent for military
training, reorganization of the structures in the field of defense.
We collaborated with the International Secretariat of NATO for several
years to work on the concept of crisis management and creation of
the Situation Centre at Armenia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Cooperation in elimination of obsolete pesticides proved to be
efficient as well, the program continues to monitor the seismic
activity. So, there is a multi-faceted cooperation.
Is membership in the CSTO and cooperation with NATO providing the
country’s security?
The concept of security in our time is broader. Success in ensuring
security depends on effective correlation and balance of its
components. Armenia adheres to the principle of cooperative security.
We are full members of the CSTO and, definitively the Organization
is the main guarantor of our security. On the other hand, we are an
active partner of the North-Atlantic Alliance.
We have partner relations with Russia as well as friendly and
confidential cooperation with the United States.
Our historically good relations with the northern and southern
neighbors are crucial for a number of parameters of our security,
among them communications, energy supplies.
The times of confrontation of various military-political alliances
has passed. We must build a common platform, which would bring closer
the positions of the countries with different visions of security,
at the same time trying to rule out the danger of mutually exclusive
approaches and confrontation.
What is Armenia’s involvement in the struggle against weapons of mass
destruction? Can we call it effective?
Armenia is a party to almost all international treaties and conventions
in this area, for instance the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons, Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their
Destruction, Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and on Their Destruction. These international mechanisms
stipulate certain procedures to provide relevant information on
implementation which the Armenian side exactly following.
In fact, we have done significant work in the struggle against
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction since 2009. Amendments
were made to the Arms Act and the licensing of the Penal Code.
In 2010, a new law on export control on dual-use items and their
transit transportation through the territory of Armenia, as well as
information transfer and intellectual activity. Government of Armenia
adopted a number of relevant decisions of the licensing procedure for
determining the export and import of military goods and their transit
and brokering activities in this area, as well as those confirming
the national list of military goods.
We started the cooperation with other international organizations,
such as Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA),with
the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
(UNICRI). Active work is underway to implement the 1540 UN Security
Council resolution as of 2004, which says “all States shall refrain
from providing any form of support to non-State actors that attempt
to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery”.
We are presenting the relevant reports at the UN and OSCE.
To what extent does Armenia adhere to the Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)? Does Armenia consider this treaty viable?
Since joining the CFE Treaty in May 1992, Armenia has been fully
implementing the legal requirements of the document. We carried
out reduction of the conventional weapons. The Armenian side
regularly provides information and receives inspection as part of
its international obligations.
Unfortunately, during the recent we experienced some difficulties with
the full implementation of the agreement. But it is encouraging that
are active consultations. I represented Armenia during the last year’s
four-round talks on modernization of the treaty framework held in
Vienna. This work has not yielded concrete results yet. Armenia stands
for the preservation, restoration of the viability of the CFE Treaty.
Termination of the contract and vacuum in the field of conventional
arms control is fraught with serious negative consequences.
On the other hand, Azerbaijan is permanently violating CEF Treaty. Is
there any information on precise figures?
Absolutely right, Azerbaijan violates the provisions of the
CFE Treaty. According to official information on Azerbaijan’s
implementation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, as
of January 1, 2012 Azerbaijan exceeds the set rates in two out of five
categories of the conventional arms: 381 battle tanks instead of 220
set by the Treaty and 516 artillery pieces instead of permitted 285.
In 2011 Azerbaijan significantly increased the number of its weapons:
by 47 pieces of artillery, by 5 helicopters and by 106 pieces of
armored fighting vehicle (AFV).
Thus, Azerbaijan has officially exceeded its set levels and categories
of AFV: 287 armored vehicles, instead of 220, deliberately refraining
from the reflection of this fact in the annual exchange of information
under the CFE Treaty. Azerbaijan repeatedly increased its military
budget over recent years (the military budget for 2012 makes $
3.47 billion).
We continually attract the attention of our partner countries,
various international on the issue and call for an adequate response.