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Armenia Should Send Peacekeeping Forces to Lebanon, but not Mali

By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier 

The Armenian Defense Ministry is considering sending two platoons of troops to southern Lebanon. Ministry officials are traveling to Rome this week to discuss the structure, deployment site, number of troops, and needed supplies with their Italian counterparts who are in charge of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). 

This is a positive development since 2006 when Pres. Kocharian’s government refrained from joining dozens of countries that had agreed to take part in UN’s peacekeeping mission after Israel’s war with Lebanon. At that time, former Pres. Kocharian’s spokesman told Mediamax that the Armenian government refused to contribute troops because of UNIFIL’s unclear mandate and that any clashes involving Armenian soldiers could endanger the Armenian community in Lebanon. Pres. Kocharian staunchly defended his position on this matter during a private conversation I had with him in 2006. 

The Turkish government, on the other hand, was quick to recognize the benefits of sending troops to Lebanon, as part of its effort to establish a military footprint, expand its political and economic influence in the Arab world, gather valuable intelligence, and counteract the Armenian influence in Lebanese affairs. Consequently, Turkish troops entered Lebanon for the first time since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire almost a century ago. Currently, UNIFIL consists of 11,000 troops from 37 countries, including 495 from Turkey. Armenia sent just one officer to southern Lebanon last year on an observer mission. Meanwhile over 130 Armenian soldiers have been serving in Afghanistan and 35 in Kosovo for several years, and until recently in Iraq. 

The Armenian government did not fully explain last week as to why is it now interested in sending a peacekeeping force to Lebanon, after former Pres. Kocharian’s refusal to do so seven years ago. In my view, there are five good reasons why Armenia should contribute troops to UNIFIL: 

1) The presence of Armenian soldiers on Lebanese soil would generate great pride among the large Armenian community in that country. 

2) The Armenian contingent would serve to balance in a small way the pro-Turkish propaganda resulting from a much larger Turkish military deployment in southern Lebanon since 2006. 

3) The Armenian troops would be the only ones from the South Caucasus, as neither Azerbaijan nor Georgia has contributed troops to Lebanon. 

4) Even though there is an element of risk in sending troops to police southern Lebanon which borders Israel and Syria, this is a far less dangerous mission than Afghanistan where over 130 Armenian soldiers have been serving for a number of years. 

5) As in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo, Armenian troops would gain valuable military experience by serving along with contingents from dozens of other countries. 

The Armenian Defense Ministry also announced that it might send peacekeeping troops to Mali in Africa, where a series of bloody confrontations have been unfolding. In these clashes, Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters have been battling Malian, French and African forces. A civil war is also raging between separatist Tuareg tribes and Malian troops. The situation is so precarious that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report last week warning that peacekeeping troops may face grave risks in and around Mali. 

Under such dangerous conditions, it would be unwise for Armenian troops to be dispatched to Mali. The responsibility for the security of Mali is primarily assumed by troops from African countries with logistical support from the French military. Armenia cannot afford to risk the lives of its soldiers unnecessarily, keeping in mind its own security priorities at home due to the Karabagh (Artsakh) conflict. 

Having a limited number of Armenian troops serving in less dangerous locations may be a good idea in order to gain military training and diplomatic visibility, but dispatching large numbers of soldiers to multiple theaters of conflict and placing them in perilous situations would be most imprudent, given the small size of the Armenian military. 

Although Armenia’s participation in UNIFIL is subject to parliamentary approval, little opposition is expected in view of the ruling party’s overwhelming majority. The Armenian government should seek the Parliament’s consent to dispatch peacekeeping troops to southern Lebanon only. There are many sensible reasons for stationing Armenian units in Lebanon, but not in Mali!

Comments (2)

Trdat
Well, what I do agree with the above comment of Tlkatintsi is, his growing position of self assumed Armenian statesmen. I hang out with bunch of them in Sydney, the most far sighted handful of intellectuals and think tanks the Armenian community has presented and will present in the next 100 years. Its taken them 20 years just to slightly influence ARF policies in Australia(a waste of 20 years) to change a few policies and i am quit sure that Harout will probably take none of it, as he does not have the intellectual capability to see the foresight of new strategies. If he did, our policies will be progressive. But i do admire his patriotism. On the other hand, I will have to agree with Harout on this occasion, sending troops to any part of the world is firstly an important experience for our soldier, a must, to keep up with the demands of new warfare. Secondly, is Armenia going to sit there and allow what happened to the Syrian Armenians to the Lebanese Armenians? Isn't Armenia allowed some imperialistic measures to ensure a strong and viable diaspora? Harout 5 points are correct in this case and it was a shame that Armenia didn't send at the very least some type of protection to Aleppo... Armenian communities in the middle east are a life line to western diaspora's which tend to assimilate. Now there is no migrants or patriotic Armenians to migrate to the western worlds and assimilation is only quicker... Only a brief analysis, but we have a pretext to have soldiers in the middle east as we can say they are Armenian citizens... Just like Russia did with South Ossetia.
Tlkatintsi
Again, for Sassounian and others in the diaspora to presume to give foreign affairs advice to Armenia borders on megalomania. How is this guy anyway and what does he represent other than himself? He might be regarded as a patriot by some but his patriotism rings hollow in this instance. Why didn't he spearhead a campaign to recruit willing diaspora Armenians to man the barricades in defense of Armenian districts in Aleppo? That would have been more sincere an effort and more practical an exercise for him as a proclaimed leader of the Spyurk. Funny, all the big powers have pulled their troops out of Afghanistan but Armenia still maintains a contingent there. WHY? Does anyone actually believe that Armenian soldiers in Lebanon can somehow stem the tide of Armenians leaving. Assimilation is a given, like it or not? It's been a fact for over 100 years. There's no going back! Even Sassounian left the Middle East. Now he believes a few Armenian troops will counter the foreign machinations of Turkey. What an imagination! The only real counterbalance to Turkey in the region will be a democratic and developing Armenia. I advise Sassounian and others to refocus their energies on this challenge.

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