Don’t try to compare today’s situation with the army during Serzh Sargsyan’s rule

RPA GM member Henrikh Danielyan wrote:

“Today, Taron Chakhoyan spoke about the furnishing of the border, the military situation, the army and soldiers, trying to compare today’s security realities with the army and security system of Armenia and Artsakh during the reign of Serzh Sargsyan.
I think that our public should be very clearly presented why such a comparison is not only unfounded, but also an attempt to avoid one’s own political responsibility.

During Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, Artsakh was Armenian. It had an Armenian population, state institutions, a defense system, and borders under Armenian control. The result of the years of your rule is that today, for the first time in millennia, there is no actual Armenian population left in Artsakh, and more than 140 thousand Artsakh Armenians had to leave their homeland as a result of ethnic cleansing.

During the years of Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, Armenia was consistently replenishing and modernizing its arsenal. “Iskander-M” operational-tactical missile complexes, S-300 systems, “Tochka-U”, unmanned aerial vehicles and many other weapons and military equipment were brought to Armenia. Armenia also received about 50,000 tons of military aid from Russia, as well as preferential credit agreements of 100 and 200 million dollars in order to purchase new weapons.

And what happened during your administration?

As a result of the 2020 war, the Armenian side lost a huge amount of military equipment and weapons. A part of it was destroyed during the fighting, and a significant part ended up in the hands of Azerbaijan. In the following years, the same government constantly announced problems related to the acquisition of weapons and supplies.

This is also the security reality of the period of your administration, the political responsibility of which cannot be avoided.
During the reign of Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian soldier was a hero for the state and a key figure of the national value system. Schools were named after our heroes, monuments were built, and generations were raised by their exploits. Respect for the Armenian soldier was not a propaganda slogan, but an important component of the state and public value system.

And in the vocabulary of the representatives of your government, after the defeat of the war, the word “desertion” appeared in the context of attempts to shift part of the responsibility for military and political failures onto the soldier.

During the reign of Serzh Sargsyan, there were no Azerbaijani armed forces in the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. In the “era of peace” you declared, Armenia faced Azerbaijani invasions, the presence of Azerbaijani armed units in the sovereign territory of Armenia, and new security threats. And Artsakh was completely depopulated.

During Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, demands could not be imposed on Armenia, which today have become permanent topics of our political agenda: the provision of the so-called “corridor”, external demands regarding the amendment of the Armenian Constitution and other preconditions for the sovereign decisions of our state.

Therefore, do not try to compare today’s situation with the army and security system during the years of Serzh Sargsyan’s rule.
Yes, even then there were problems and shortcomings. But Armenia was a military-political factor in the region, Armenians lived in Artsakh, Armenian armed forces protected the borders of Armenia and Artsakh, and there were no Azerbaijani armed forces in the sovereign territory of Armenia.
Today you can talk as much as you want about new roads, equipped positions, engineering works and “peace”. However, the result of state administration is not evaluated by the government’s statements, but by the reality that the state gains or loses as a result of that administration.

You have inherited Armenian Artsakh, a combat-ready army and a functioning security system.

As a result of the years of your rule, we have a depopulated Artsakh, the presence of Azerbaijani armed forces in the sovereign territory of Armenia and qualitatively new security threats.

This is the reality.

And after all this, trying to compare one’s own weakness with the army during the years of Serzh Sargsyan’s rule is not a political analysis.

It is an unsuccessful attempt to bypass the historical facts and the consequences of one’s own government and present a completely different reality to the society.

History can be interpreted in different ways, but its results cannot be rewritten.”

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