Monday, February 11 2019 12:04

ArmInfo. Artsrun Hovhannisyan, a Spokesman for the Armenian Ministry of Defense, responding to a number of public figures' "concern", provided legal explanations for  sending a team of specialists to Syria. The explanations, as pointed out by Hovhannisyan, are addressed including to some international partners.

Earlier, on February 8, a group of Armenian specialists in  humanitarian demining, medical personnel and ensuring the safety of  the specialists themselves, a total of 83 people, arrived in the city  of Aleppo in the Syrian Arab Republic to provide humanitarian  specialized assistance to the Syrian people. According to the press  service of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, the Armenian  specialists will carry out humanitarian activities related to  humanitarian demining, mine awareness of the population, the  provision of medical assistance in Aleppo, exclusively outside the  zone of combat operations. As Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote on his  Facebook page, these explanations from the Armenian defense ministry  are due to the involvement in a humanitarian mission of Center for  Humanitarian Demining (SNCO), the Ministry of Defense of Armenia is  an authorized body of this center. According to a certificate issued  by the representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of  Armenia, a cooperation agreement was signed between the governments  of Armenia and Syria on August 27, 2001, which was ratified on  February 4, 2002 and entered into force on February 14, 2002.

The agreement, in particular, provides for the cooperation of the  parties in other areas in the event of mutual agreement. The powers  of the parties to comment on the provisions of the Agreement in a  mutually acceptable way are also clearly established; including that  the parties are obliged to observe the complete secrecy of the  information exchanged.

Summarizing, Hovhannisyan writes that the regulations on sending by  Armenia humanitarian specialists and personnel to ensure their  personal safety to Syria comply with the Armenian legislation. At the  same time, he pointed out that part of legal acts according to the  laws of Armenia on state and official secrets are not subject to  disclosure, moreover, their unauthorized publication implies criminal  liability. Summarizing, Artsrun Hovhannisyan writes: "You can see in  the photo that the first group is already in Aleppo. All the Armenian  people are proud of the humanitarian aid provided to the people of  Syria and our compatriots. A number of public figures must specify  their positions: Is it just a concern or something more? ".