By AVET DEMOURIAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s parliament voted Friday to send 46 non-combat troops to Iraq, a move that was backed by President Robert Kocharian but drew sharp criticism from many Armenians and opposition groups.
After more than seven hours of debate behind closed doors, lawmakers in the National Assembly voted 91-23, with one abstention, to send the contingent, which will include bomb-disposal experts, doctors and transport specialists.
The troops could be deployed to Iraq as early as next month and could serve in Iraq for up to a year, said Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, adding that the contingent would only conduct humanitarian operations.
“There is not, and will not be an Armenian military presence in Iraq,” Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said. “In the humanitarian aspect, it is preferable for Armenia to contribute to the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, in establishing democracy in this country which has important significance for the region and which could have an impact on the Caucasus.”
The troops would serve as part of the Polish-led multinational force, officials said. That force operates in a belt of territory south of Baghdad, though Armenia has not specified where its troops will deploy.
The Constitutional Court ruled earlier this month that Kocharian’s plan to send non-combat troops to Iraq did not violate the country’s constitution.
Kocharian has sought to portray the decision to send troops to Iraq as a way to boost ties with Europe.
But the proposal had been widely criticized by opposition parties, many Armenians and even the 30,000-strong Armenian community in Iraq, which feared being targeted for attacks if the troops were sent.
“We shouldn’t even be sending humanitarian troops to Iraq, because we can’t jeopardize the security of Armenians living Iraq, said Viktor Dalakyan, a leader with the opposition party Justice. “Moreover their lives are already being threatened.”
In August, an Armenian Apostolic church in Baghdad was hit in a wave of attacks on Iraq’s minority Christians that that killed 11 people and injured more than 50.
The troops will join a multinational division that includes troops from other former Soviet countries, such as Georgia and Armenia’s archrival, Azerbaijan.
Other former Soviet republics that have also sent troops to Iraq are Ukraine, Georgia and the three Baltic countries.
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