THE STATEMENTS THAT ARMENIA ALLEGEDLY CANNOT AFFORD CONTRACT SOLDIERS ARE JUST A MYTH
David Stepanyan
ArmInfo
2010-09-22 14:59:00
Interview of Greta Mirzoyan, member of the Defense Minister’s Public
Council, Chairwoman of “Zinvori Mayr” (‘Soldier’s Mother’) public
organization, with ArmInfo news agency
Mrs. Mirzoyan, why have the cases of Armenian contract servicemen’s
deaths recently become more frequent?
First of all, all these recent deaths of Armenian soldiers have quite
different reasons. We have studied all these incidents separately and
revealed that they had quite different nature. What is taking place in
our armed forces now has one reason – discouragement of officers. This
is the first reason. The second reason is overfamiliarity of relations
between the command and soldiers that are developing especially
intensively at present. This breaks the subordination that cannot
but lead to negative consequences. I think that negligence of the
officers of arms, back-slapping and high level of corruption in the
army are the main reasons of death of our soldiers. I consider that
an officer should be like an elder brother or a father or grandfather
or a teacher to a soldier. If an officer does not see himself in one
of these roles, he should simply leave the army, as he cannot be a
half-brother or half-teacher. Undoubtedly, there are such officers in
the Armenian army and I personally know them. But unfortunately, few
officers of the new generation, which get education in the Military
Institute after Vazgen Sarkisyan, play one of these roles. We have
recently managed to save the life of a soldier Varuzhan Davtyan,
who refused to give 30 thsd drams to an officer and was beaten by the
latter. I think that our defense minister is very kind as he has taken
responsibility for the recent murder and suicide cases in the army.
But besides the minister, we also have General Headquarters, which
should share the responsibility for our boys’ lives.
Why?
To understand this problem, we should consider reason thoroughly. We
attend every final and entrance examination at the Institute after
Vazgen Sarkisyan. A question arises: who enters there? Those who fail
to enter the state higher educational establishments, those who cannot
get through one subject, as well as orphaned children, who are weakly
trained, enter the Institute after Vazgen Sarkisyan. What shall the
management of this military Institute do in order to assure drafting
anyway? I think such a contingent is unable to become a skilled
officer staff. That is, it is first of all necessary to clear up
why the best of the best don’t enter the military higher educational
establishment of Armenia. Why is the officer’s status so low-grade,
why is he in need?
As compared with the civil servicemen’s salaries, the officers’
salaries are not so low, and even exceed the civil servicemen’s
salaries thrice…
Let’s consider the back side. Such an officer, who gets a salary
thrice as much, is often absent from home, that also affects his
financial state. One should also take into account that low salaries
are available in the civil society as well; therefore, one should
compare not the salary of an officer with that of a civil servant,
but his salary with his life. It’s heavy going “making a war” every day
with unwashed, uneducated and ill-mannered soldiers. There are even no
normal sanitary conditions, no water in some permanent posts, and an
officer faces this every day. What does the Armenian army start from?
Of course, it starts from a draft call and, first of all, it is
necessary to consider the quality of the contingent being called to
the country’s armed forces.
Today the boys who really have serious health problems are called up
for military service. Big sums are demanded from them, which they
cannot pay and are directed to the army. After finding themselves
in a military point these really sick conscripts are either taken to
hospital or die. What is the sense of such conscription, and why does
the conscription commission ensure quantity and not quality?
We have always touched on this problem, which is really priority. The
whole generation of the 90-s has health problems. But nobody asks
who is blamed for having such a weak generation. Why had Armenia no
electric power, gas, heating in the 90-s? Who pocketed the people’s
money? This impunity based on illegality has led us to what we have
today: sick backbone or kidneys. The conscription medical commission
is well aware of the cases when a conscript is not physically
qualified. However, the relevant legislation in Armenia is still loose
and has many loopholes for physicians. For instance, diseases have the
categories of the ill-defined or severe and doctors can easily send
a certainly not physically qualified conscript to army registering
his disease as ill-defined. Physicians just wait for the parents
of the physically not qualified conscript to offer an envelop with
bribe to replace the word “ill-defined with severe” in the diagnosis
of their son. But this happens quite rarely because conscription in
Armenia mostly applies to peasants and ordinary citizens having no
big incomes. Physicians who violate the military ethics afford all
this lawlessness because they share bribes with upper instances. In
addition, no one can demand an absolutely healthy conscription from
military committees considering the big number of unhealthy persons
at the age of conscription at present. We just have no necessary
number of healthy conscripts. A question arises. Why aren’t the
conscripts healthy? Parents often do not care for they children and
health properly. Some people get to know about severe diseases of
their sons just at the conscription committees. I have witnessed
such situations personally and, unfortunately, there are many such
cases. We have nothing to do but hope for improvement of the situation
in future starting with the conscription of the youth born in 1998.
Has the Defense Ministry come to certain conclusions after all these
cases, and is it going to take any measures at least?
There will certainly be some changes. We expect that part of
the officer staff will leave their positions because of their
unsatisfactory work. Of course, this cannot resolve the problem,
but in the Defense Ministry they are going to examine the level of
education and upbringing. I think it will lead to certain results,
as from the viewpoint of losses the current year has become the
hardest for us since 1995. It is impossible to continue this way. To
be honest, all the defects of the civil society directly reflect
the situation in the army, and not only the army should bring up
the growing generations. The army should give military education to
a soldier but it cannot bring him up and compensate good breeding,
which he failed to get in his own family.
Do you think at least partial transition of the Armenian Armed Forces
to contract service is a way out of the current situation?
Yes, I do. It’s a shame for our authorities to speak of impossibility
of the transition to contract service. Money in Armenia is invested in
luxurious mansions, expensive leisure of our rich men in Hawaii. It is
high time for our thieves and the corrupted men to share part of their
thefts with the army. However, everything is quite on the contrary
in Armenia. The richer a man is, the less taxes he pays. Sometimes,
the rich pay no taxes at all. The statements that Armenia allegedly
cannot afford contract soldiers are just a myth. It is quite easy
and affordable to hire contract soldiers in Armenia. There are many
people who want to serve on a contract basis.
Don’t you think the Defense Ministry’s reluctance to transit to the
contract basis may be conditioned by the reluctance to reduce the
corruption risks, at least at the military enlistment offices and
conscription medical committees?
It is quite natural, however, full transition to the contract service
in Armenia is not possible as long as the Karabakh conflict remains
unresolved. We do not know if there will be war or not. However,
partial transition to the contract service is possible. This will
improve the quality of the army and conscripts and there will be no
need for conscription of unhealthy soldiers.
From: A. Papazian