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Associated Press Worldstream
January 18, 2005 Tuesday 11:14 AM Eastern Time
Armenian contingent leaves for Iraq
by AVET DEMOURIAN; Associated Press Writer
YEREVAN, Armenia
A 49-man contingent of Armenian non-combat troops left Tuesday to
join the U.S.-led force in Iraq, after the former Soviet republic's
parliament and Constitutional Court approved the mission following
heated debate.
The contingent - 10 bomb-disposal experts, 30 drivers, three medics
and three officers - was flying to Kuwait for two weeks of training
before entering Iraq, where the Armenians will serve under Polish
command in Karbala and Hillah, sough of Baghdad, the Defense Ministry
said. They left on a U.S. military C-130 Hercules aircraft.
"We cannot stand aside from regional process including international
efforts to establish peace and stability in Iraq," Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisian said at a ceremony at the airport in the capital,
Yerevan. "We have chosen the humanitarian path of aid to the people
of Iraq - medical help, de-mining and transport services."
He called the international presence in Iraq "one of the most
important components of the construction of world security and said
that "our desire for full-fledged integration in the international
community creates certain moral obligations."
After more than seven hours of debate behind closed doors, parliament
voted 91-23 late last month to send the contingent, a move that was
backed by President Robert Kocharian but drew sharp criticism from
many Armenians, opposition groups, and even the 30,000-strong
Armenian community in Iraq, which fears being targeted for attacks.
The troops will join a multinational division that includes troops
from other former Soviet countries, including Armenia's Caucasus
Mountain neighbors - Georgia and Armenia's archrival Azerbaijan.
January 18, 2005 Tuesday 11:14 AM Eastern Time
Armenian contingent leaves for Iraq
by AVET DEMOURIAN; Associated Press Writer
YEREVAN, Armenia
A 49-man contingent of Armenian non-combat troops left Tuesday to
join the U.S.-led force in Iraq, after the former Soviet republic's
parliament and Constitutional Court approved the mission following
heated debate.
The contingent - 10 bomb-disposal experts, 30 drivers, three medics
and three officers - was flying to Kuwait for two weeks of training
before entering Iraq, where the Armenians will serve under Polish
command in Karbala and Hillah, sough of Baghdad, the Defense Ministry
said. They left on a U.S. military C-130 Hercules aircraft.
"We cannot stand aside from regional process including international
efforts to establish peace and stability in Iraq," Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisian said at a ceremony at the airport in the capital,
Yerevan. "We have chosen the humanitarian path of aid to the people
of Iraq - medical help, de-mining and transport services."
He called the international presence in Iraq "one of the most
important components of the construction of world security and said
that "our desire for full-fledged integration in the international
community creates certain moral obligations."
After more than seven hours of debate behind closed doors, parliament
voted 91-23 late last month to send the contingent, a move that was
backed by President Robert Kocharian but drew sharp criticism from
many Armenians, opposition groups, and even the 30,000-strong
Armenian community in Iraq, which fears being targeted for attacks.
The troops will join a multinational division that includes troops
from other former Soviet countries, including Armenia's Caucasus
Mountain neighbors - Georgia and Armenia's archrival Azerbaijan.