Armenian News

ARMENIA POSITIVE ABOUT MILITARY REFORM
Hopes that new defence minister will deliver on much-delayed plans.
By Ara Tadevosian in Yerevan

Armenia is about to launch a programme that will strengthen civilian control over its

armed forces, a move which experts say as a positive sign of new defence minister

Seiran Ohanian's commitment to military reform.

The Armenia defence ministry is following the example of Georgia in carrying out a

strategic defence review that will look at all aspects of the armed forces. This is a key

component of the country's Individual Partnership Plan (IPAP) with NATO.

International experts attended a seminar on the defence review held in Yerevan at the

end of July.

Although the Armenian government has no ambitions to join NATO and the country

remains part of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a defence grouping within

the Commonwealth of Independent States, it says it wants the military to be more convergent

with NATO standards in terms of transparency and ability to cooperate with other armed forces.

A law on "special civilian service" was adopted on January 1 this year under which, by the

end of the summer, there should be decisions on which posts in the defence ministry can be

held by civilians.

There has been talk of military reform in Armenia since the spring of 2005, when the then

deputy defence minister Artur Agabekian - now head of the parliamentary commission on

military affairs and security - said it was a priority for the ministry.

Agabekian said that by 2015 Armenia should create an army "meeting the demands of the

21st century, able to withstand new challenges and comprehensively guaranteeing the military

security of the state".

However, little progress was made subsequently, especially after the then defence minister

Serzh Sarkisian became prime minister in spring 2007. Sarkisian is now Armenian president.

"It is hard to say what exactly caused this [lack of progress]," said David Alaverdian, deputy

director of the Armenian Centre for Transatlantic Initiatives. "It was either that Mikael Harutiunian,

who replaced Serzh Sarkisian as defence minister, was unprepared to embark on real change,

or that the political decision to begin reforms had not been taken at the highest level.

"In any case, for many months NATO representatives were extremely sceptical about the

capacity of the Armenian military leadership to push forward defence reforms successfully."

However, the new minister Ohanian has made a different impression.

In a speech to the defence ministry on May 30 this year, he said, "extremely responsible and

difficult work lies ahead of us". He announced that a new commission, led by the chief of the

general staff, would begin work on military reform, a new directorate for strategic planning

would be set up, and a new law on defence would be adopted this autumn.

From this autumn, many of the military personnel employed by the defence ministry will work

as civilians.

"This calls for an extremely careful and thorough approach so that the rights of military personnel

are not ignored," Ohanian said, stressing that it would be a major psychological change for the

Armenian army.

Psychologist David Atarbekian described the kind of culture change the Armenian defence

establishment will have to go if the reforms are to be successful. He said it was important for

the defence ministry to recognise the need to change current ways of thinking, and to accept that

there would be some resistance to this.

He noted that the military still enjoyed a unique position in Armenian society. "In present-day

Armenia, the army is the only state institution which basically has the unconditional support

of society, irrespective of their political sympathies," he said.

Atarbekian said that during the state of emergency imposed in Armenia from March 1 to 20

because of the violence that followed the disputed presidential election, there were no recorded

cases of clashes between soldiers and civilians.

He noted that until now, belonging to the army has meant membership of a privileged caste,

and losing this by giving up a military uniform would be a profound shock for many officers.

Ohanian is a key figure in these changes. A career officer in the Soviet military, he became

an Armenian hero in the Nagorny Karabakh war and was wounded in the fighting, losing a leg.

His appointment and actions have been widely welcomed.

"In my view, the Armenian army will not weaken, but on the contrary become stronger because

people's level of trust in their armed forces will increase," said Tevan Poghosian, executive

director of the Armenian Atlantic Association. "More regulated and precise planning of defence

spending, as foreseen by our IPAP, will ensure that our army can be optimised."

No one opposes military reforms as such in Armenia, but some politicians are worried that the

process will bring the armed forces too close to NATO and too far away from Moscow.

Russia and Armenia signed a military cooperation treaty in 1995, and the Russians maintain

a military base at Gyumri, Armenia's second city.

Former defence minister Vagarshak Harutiunian, now an opposition politician, said a close

relationship with Russia and membership of the CSTO was important not just militarily but

economically as well, because it allows the country to buy weaponry at discounted prices.

This is an important factor for Armenia, when its entire national budget is less than neighbouring

Azerbaijan's defence budget of more than 1.2 billion US dollars a year.

Harutiunian noted that most Armenian officers still train at Russian military academies.

"Russia's military presence in Armenia is fully justified in terms of guaranteeing the security

of our republic," said Harutiunian.

Ara Tadevosian is director of the Mediamax news agency in Yerevan.

ALBERT AZARYAN - ARMENIAN FLAG HOLDER IN OLYMPICS
Panorama.am
21:33 06/08/2008

On the opening ceremony of 29th Olympics to be conducted in Beijing
Armenian Olympic champion Albert Azaryan will hold the flag of Armenia,
said Khachik Asryan, the vice Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Remind that 25 Armenian sportsmen will present 8 sports
types. According to Khachikyan each of our sportsmen is a potential
medal receiver. The first group of Armenian delegation left for
Beijing on 31 July and the rest groups left in August 1;2;4;5 and
another one will leave tomorrow.

The leader of Armenian Delegation is the Chairman of National
Olympics Committee Gagik Carukyan, other members of the delegation
are the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, representatives of the
Committee, doctors, media representatives. The President of Armenia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Serzh Sargsyan will follow to the Olympics Games.

SEVERAL POLICEMEN OF GYUMRI EXPOSED FOR BRIBE TAKING
Noyan Tapan
Aug 7, 2008

GYUMRI, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of operative measures
taken by employees of the RA Police Main Department for Fight against
Organized Crime (MDFOC) and the National Security Service (NSS), chief
district inspector of the preventive unit of the police department of
the city of Gyumri, Major Seyran Petrosian was exposed based on the
fact of taking bribes. It was found out that S. Petrosian - through
the following persons: section commander of the patrol service of
the indicated police department Sargis Parsamian and policemen of
the patrol company Hovhannes Grigorian and Grigor Hayrapetian -
recurrently extorted bribes of large amounts from citizens selling
goods and conducting an illegal sale and purchase of foreign currency
in the central market of Gyumri.

After making a search in the small house that served as an office
for the above mentioned policemen in the market, the MDFOC and NSS
employees found written records about various persons, as well as three
copy-books, in which since 2007 the policemen have written data on
goods sellers, with a "plus" or "minus" sign being put against their
names by days, from which those who paid or not paid money can be seen.

At the same time Seyran Petrosian took out 412 thousand drams from
his pocket and presented it to law enforcers. It came to light that
Gevorg Hakobian, an expert of the Gyumri municipality's trade and
service unit, was also extorting money from market sellers.

According to a press release of the RA Police PR and Information
Department, several Gyumri residents engaged in an illegal exchange
of foreign currency in the market: Ashot Antonian, Norayr Sahakian,
Rubik Khachatrian, Robert Poladian, Ara Grigorian, Vardan Yaghubian and
Ashot Khurshudian were revealed. They presented to the law enforcers
the money they had for conducting an exchange of currency: 3,967,000
drams, 3,807 USD, 1,995 euros and 183,050 rubles. Based on the
prepared materials, a criminal case was opened by the NSS Investigation
Department under Article 311 part 3 of the RA Criminal Code.

Policemen Seyran Petrosian, Sargis Parsamian and Hovhannes Grigorian
have been arrested.