Armenia forcibly turns its youth into ‚soldiers‘

by Rashid Shirinov

(15.09.2017) The Armenian army, which suffers from a lack of military personnel, is looking for ways to swell its ranks through new programs of conscription within the Nation Army concept.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has recently submitted a new bill that implies abolition of deferment from the military service for free education in university, Razm.info.am reported.

“The military deferment will be issued only to those citizens who, along with studying in local universities, will conclude a contract with the Defense Ministry and undergo military training during the studies. Upon graduation, the youth will serve in the place proposed by the agency and on the proposed conditions,” the resource noted.

Thus, if an Armenian student who studies for free wants to get the deferment, he will have to join “I have the Honor” program, which implies serving in the Armenian army for three years. Along with the studies, he will have to attend the military training at the Military Institute every Saturday for two years.

Thus, the authorities seek to forcibly implant the Nation Army concept into the Armenian society. Due to this idea of the government, the trend of emigration of pre-conscription-age people from the country has increased.

“The Nation Army concept is part of a trend in Armenia in which the government is raising not a citizen but a soldier,” head of Armenia’s Peace Dialogue nongovernmental organization Edgar Khachatryan has recently told EurasiaNet.

“In the future, this citizen will not assert their rights but will follow orders... This is the shortest way to the establishment of a military dictatorship and I see everything goes to that,” added Khachatryan.

Currently, Armenia is the third most militarized country in the world, and it seems that the country’s government seeks to fully militarize the Armenian population, apparently against neighboring Azerbaijan, whose 20 percent of territory Armenia keeps under occupation.

Rashid Shirinov: Armenia forcibly turns its youth into ‚soldiers‘, 15 September 2017. www.azernews.az

Keywords:    ⇒ Armenia   ⇒ Militarization   ⇒ Military