Will Armenia not take part in NATO exercises due to fact that the Secretary General of the Alliance supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan?

According to newspaper sources, the reason for this step is that in the course of a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels 29 April, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer issued a statement supporting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Notably, for various reasons Latvia, Estonia and Kazakhstan will not take part in NATO exercises.

Official Yerevan has not yet commented on rumors about the refusal by Armenia to participate in NATO exercises in Georgia. Spokesman for the Minister of Defense of Armenia, Colonel Seyran Shahsuvaryan said that the information on the refusal or the participation of Armenian militaries in NATO exercises in the territory of Georgia will be declared by the Foreign Ministry of Armenia.

Meanwhile, sources in the Foreign Ministry reported that the Armenian side refuses to participate in exercises of Cooperative Longbow and Cooperative Lancer in Georgia.

/Panorama.am, Regnum/