by David Zenian
Brussels — The Armenian Embassy in Brussels may not be a high-profile diplomatic post, but a look at the territory it covers clearly indicates that there is more than meets the eye.
Brussels is the home of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the focal point of the Benelux States which along with Belgium includes the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
“It’s like having one diplomatic mission for the price of a dozen or more,” says Armenia’s Chargé d’Affaires Gregori Badalian, a career diplomat with more than 24 years of experience in the Soviet foreign service.
Fluent in French, Russian, Armenian and a few other languages, Badalian is an electronic engineer by education and a journalist and diplomat by vocation.
He served six years as an officer in the Soviet Army between 1954-60. His diplomatic career has taken him to Cambodia and Laos on three year stints each and about 10 years in Belgium and Holland.
“I know the Benelux very well. My last posting was in Holland between 1984-90 after which I resigned and returned to Armenia. I could have stayed in Moscow, but I chose to serve my country,” he said.
For the first year back in Armenia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Badalian was unemployed. But his “isolation” ended in 1991 when he was offered to head one of the departments of the Armenian Foreign Ministry in Yerevan.
A career diplomat, Badalian treats his work with extreme professionalism.
“I am not excited by the ceremonial aspects of the job. A true diplomat is like a musician. He is given a set of notes, and his duty is to play the tune with perfection. There is no room to change or improvise. You cannot change Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony,” he says matter of factly.
Brussels, as the capital of Europe, is a “gateway of opportunity” for Armenia and Badalian knows his territory well.
“Between NATO, the EC and NATO’s Partnership for Peace, there are about 50 diplomatic missions which are in our domain. Of course we are not directly involved with all, but we are in close contact with at least 16 of them,” Badalian said in an interview at the Armenian Embassy — the two top floors of the Armenian Community Center, on loan to the Embassy until a more permanent location is found.
Despite its limited resources, Badalian and his staff are in daily contact with a dozen or more diplomatic missions, the NATO secretariat and the EC.
“What the Embassy does here in a year is more than what I have done in 24 years as a Soviet diplomat. The Embassy deals not only with Belgian-Armenian relations, but a vast array of issues like military, economic, scientific and aviation — naming just a few,” he says.
NATO and the EC offer limitless training opportunities, and Armenia has been taking advantage of many of the special programs in peacekeeping, military budgeting and other disciplines.
“Our best opportunities are through NATO’s Partnership for Peace programs. Our participation is often more than that of even Russia,” Badalian says.
“We are fortunate to have the full support of the Armenian community of Belgium. We could not have maintained a diplomatic presence here without their help.
“Bigger nations of the former Soviet Union like Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are not represented in Brussels. We are lucky,” Badalian says.
