Today, the 9th NATO Week kicked off in Armenia with the opening of a photo exhibition of Armenian peacekeepers involved in NATO-led operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan. The exhibition announcing the launching of the event held on November 2-6 was opened at the Yerevan State University Library. “Indeed, it is very important for the people to see how our soldiers are serving, how they contribute to the international peacekeeping operations, because when we say that Armenia has its contribution in these actions, it seems a bit abstract, while through these photos, everyone can see the Armenian peacekeepers during the drills and at leisure,” said the director of the NATO Information Center, Ara Tadevosyan.
“Holding this even every year, we are trying to present the Armenian public the Armenia-NATO partnership relations and the alliance activities,” said the Head of the Arms Control and International Security Department of the RA FM, Samvel Mkrtchyan, and emphasized that the participation of the Armenian soldiers in the NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo is one of the important component of the cooperation. “The international security and continuously emerging crisis situations require everyone’s involvement and contribution in the management of these situations. Armenia’s participation in NATO-led two operations indicate that even though the problems and the security threats existing in the places outside Armenia are not alien to us, we are trying to participate in their arrangement to the extent of our efforts,” said S. Mkrtchyan.
He emphasized that Armenia’s this commitment will be ongoing. “As you know, recently, we have also been involved in the UN peacekeeping operations, and in this framework, the first step was the deployment of our peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon. Armenia will continue to develop its peacekeeping capacities by investing them in other places where there is a need for peace and stability,” said S. Mkrtchyan.
The NATO Liaison Officer in South Caucasus William Lahue said that working with the partners and, in particular, with Armenia is one of the most important objectives of NATO, in terms of ensuring stability and security in the Euro-Atlantic area. “NATO, indeed, is proud to work with such a country like Armenia, which has such a professional military personnel. Armenians should be proud of their soldiers and, in particular, of those who are involved in the international peacekeeping detachments who represents Armenia to the world,” said William Lahue.
Siranush HAYRAPETYAN
