NATO HQ, Brussels 19 Dec. 2001

Statement by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, Mr. Serj Sargsyan Dear Mr. Secretary General, dear colleagues, I would like to first of all thank the Belgian Government and NATO Secretariat for a wonderful organization of this meeting and perfect work conditions. The events of September 11 shook and shocked the entire world. There is nothing more horrifying than crimes against civilians and terrorism in any expression. Armenia was one of the first countries to offer its full support to the anti-terrorist effort: political, strategic, informational, moral. During his working visit to Armenia a few days ago the US Secretary of Defense noticed how important proved the information provided by Armenia in the anti-terrorist effort. This once again witnesses to the significance of full cooperation of the countries of the world, regardless of their size or geographic location in addressing contemporary challenges. Armenia, in its foreign policy, is oriented towards establishment of friendly relations with all the countries of our region and full participation to all the peace and security initiatives. In this context, we watch our participation to EAPC and cooperation through PfP as a major element of our security system. In this regard I cannot refrain from noting the International staff discussion paper prepared by the political military steering committee on PfP, offering to intensify the PfP and EAPC participation by the countries of our region, and discusses the further support opportunities. Thank you very much. The events of September 11 shook and shocked the entire humanity. There is nothing more horrifying than crimes against civilians, than terrorism in any expression. Armenia was one of the first countries to offer its full support to the anti-terrorist effort: political, strategic, informational, moral. Unfortunately, events like this, that supposedly should bring us closer to each other, consolidate our efforts in the framework of international security organizations, are often being misused by some countries for narrow national interests. Those countries attempt to use the tragedy to serve their own agendas and mislead international community. Representatives of the Azerbaijani government use any opportunity to mislead international community and libel Armenia, blaming us in supporting terrorism. At this ministerial meeting Azerbaijan has modified its approach: they have tried to mislead participants by having Minister of Defense pronounce one speech at the Conference Hall, and distribute a completey different and irrelevant text, fully devoted to blaming Armenia as it it was the official transcript of the Minister's speech. The facts, however, wittness to the opposite: during the Karabagh war so called "special forces" were formed from Afghan and Chechen mojahedins. The major objective of those groups was implementation of punitive and terrorist operations. Those groups were formed in training camps /in Doliburun, Jdanov region, Seifuli in Shamkhor district, in Ali-Bairamli in Yevlakh region/. In down-town Baku, in "Apsheron" hotel a special office was established that dealt with mercenary recruitment, accommodation and further dislocation in different military units. After the cease-fire was established in 1994, most of mojahedins left Azerbaijan. However, some stayed to foster the interest towards Islamic fundamentalism through establishment of training camp network. Ibrahim Eiduras, lately arrested in Europe for participation in the 1998 Embassy bombings, lead the Azeri branch of Al Kaida between 1995 and 1997. In August 1998 the Azeri branch of "Islamic Jihad," that later merged with bin Laden's Al Kaida, reportedly coordinated the Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, that left 224 dead and over 4600 wounded. In this connection a number of Baku to Eastern Africa and backward telephone calls have been bugged. After those events a tremendous pressure was put on Azerbaijan to terminate and ban the Islamic radicals functioning in its territory. However, Azerbaijan limited its action to safely returning some of them to their home-countries. One of these terrorists - Ahmad Salam Mabruk, who led the local Al Kaida branch at the time, was arrested when he attempted to obtain chemical and biological weapons in Azerbaijan. Currently the following groups and organizations continue their work in Azerbaijan: - The local branch of the "Muslim-brothers" group, better known in Azerbaijan under the name of the "Social Reform Society." This organization is incorporated under Azeri law as a Quwaiti organization in the Ministry of Justice in June 1994. The organization started its active work in 1995 in form of assisting Chechen fighters. The local branch of the "Egyptian Islamic Jihad" was founded in mid 90's and practically reports directly to bin Laden. The "Tovba" group (society), lead by Haji Abdul, which effectively started its activities since 1996. Reportedly tens of members of this organization were trained for terrorist activities in Afghan camps. Even though officially banned "Jeishullah" and "Hizbut-Takhir" lost their central offices, their local branches continue to function.