12th Peacekeeping Brigade


The 12th Peacekeeping Battalion is a military unit of the Armed Forces of Armenia. Sometimes referred to as the Blue Berets due to its role, it solely specializes in peacekeeping in foreign countries as part of international initiatives. It is commanded by Major General Arthur Simonyan. In early 2016, Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan said that he considers the brigade to be the "basis for establishment of professional army".

History

In July 2001, a memorandum on Armenian peacekeeping was signed at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York, being the catalyst for the formation of a peacekeeping unit. Captain Artak Tonoyan was appointed the first commander of the battalion. The battalion was subsequently reformed into a brigade. In February 2004, the first group of Armenian peacekeepers were deployed to Kosovo for six months. In March 2008, it was relocated to the former base of the Capital Regiment. In 2016, personnel from the brigade carryed the flags of the United States, Germany, Italy, Poland and Greece took part in the Independence Day parade on Republic Square. In November 2017, the unit opened a peacekeeping training center in Zar. A women’s platoon was established that same year as part of the cooperation program between the unit and the United Nations Population Fund.

Participation in the Armenian Revolution

In April 2018, it was reported that members of the brigade marched alongside anti-government forces in the 2018 Armenian revolution. The Armenian Defense Ministry condemned what it said described as an illegal action, saying that "The harshest legal measures will be taken against the soldiers".

Activities

The peacekeeping activities of the Armenian unit in Kosovo have been carried out as part of the Greek contingent in the town of Ferizaj. It left Kosovo in 2011 only to return in 2012, with its new garrison being at a base of United States Army Europe. In January 2005, having received the consent of the National Assembly of Armenia, a group of 45 peacekeepers went to Iraq together with a Polish Army unit. In January 2010, forty peacekeepers went to Afghanistan in a mission carried out jointly with the Bundeswehr, serving in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, and formerly in Kunduz. During the mission, an Armenian chapel was opened. Since December 2014, the brigade became the unit representing Armenia at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The brigade mission to Syria is unlike other missions as it was an independent one.