"We are worried that Armenia's authorities are preparing to send an Armenian peace-keeping contingent to Iraq," 30 organizations wrote in a joint letter to Kocharian.

The organizations include student associations and youth groups linked to several political parties, including those that support the government, and have thousands of members.

The organizations warned that the ethnic Armenian diaspora in Iraq, numbering around 20,000 people, could be targeted by Iraqi insurgents.

The non-combatant troops, which include doctors, mine-clearing experts and drivers, are to be sent to Iraq and integrated into the Polish military contingent there as part of an agreement signed last month between Yerevan and Warsaw.

The organizations also sent their letter to the Armenian parliament, whose approval is required for the accord to come into effect. They said they were prepared to resort to other means of protest if their message was not heeded.

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian insisted the 50 troops' mission in Iraq was a humanitarian one and would not include combat.

Immigration officials in Yerevan said around 100 Armenian families in Iraq have sought temporary asylum in Armenia following last August's wave of bomb attacks on churches in Baghdad and Mosul, in northern Iraq.

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