Azerbaijani armed forces keep opening fire in the direct neighborhood of peaceful communities of Armenia’s Syunik province, Armenia’s Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan said at a press conference today.
“The recent inquiries by the staff of the Human Rights Defender’s Office show that recently Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire in the neighborhood of the communities of Nerkin Hand, Agarak, Yeghvard and others,” Tatoyan stressed.
ISTANBUL
The Turkish defense industry is being targeted with embargoes both overt and covert, Turkey’s Defense Industries Presidency said in a written statement on Tuesday.
Turkey will continue towards its goal of a fully independent defense industry with its determination to design, develop, and produce national and indigenous systems and technologies, the statement stressed after a meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee.
The meeting, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, discussed new military systems for the country’s armed forces.
“As part of this, various projects on communication and information systems, ammunition and missiles, various platforms, modernization, and new technologies were decided on,” the statement said.
In recent years, Turkey’s defense and aviation companies made significant strides in research and development, as well as production and exports. Turkey is among six countries in the world that can produce its own UAVs.
After certain foreign suppliers started to impose embargoes due to Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in last year’s Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkish firms began focusing more on local production.
Last October, Canada suspended exports of some defense products to Turkey over allegations that its technology was being used in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Karabakh conflict
In 1991, the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh (Upper Karabakh), internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, and seven adjacent regions.
When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and even violated humanitarian cease-fire agreements.
During the six-week conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages, while at least 2,802 of its soldiers were martyred.
The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end the fighting and work towards a comprehensive resolution.
On Jan. 11, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia signed a pact to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region. It included the establishment of a trilateral working group on Karabakh.
The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have withdrawn in line with the agreement.
Thursday, February 25, 2021 Armenian President In No Rush To Sack Army Chief February 25, 2021 Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian speaks during an official ceremony at the presidential palace in Yerevan. Despite apparent pressure from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, President Armen Sarkissian was in no rush on Thursday to sack Armenia’s top army general at odds with the government. Pashinian announced that he has requested a presidential decree relieving Colonel-General Onik Gasparian of his duties shortly after the Armenian military’s top brass accused the government of misrule and demanded its resignation. Pashinian said Sarkissian must sign such a decree as he addressed thousands of supporters who rallied in Yerevan. “If the president of the republic does not sign that motion does it mean he is joining the coup d’etat?” he asked. “In the existing situation nobody must try to draw the president into political processes in any way,” Sarkissian’s office said in a statement issued late in the evening. “Any attempt to put pressure on the president is unacceptable.” The office pointed out that the Armenian constitution gives the president three days to sign or reject decrees proposed by the prime minister. “Based on the need to ensure the normal functioning of state bodies, the president has until now not objected to the appointment and dismissal of state officials [proposed by the prime minister.] But amid martial law and the existing crisis, the dismissal of the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces after the above-mentioned statement [by the military] would not be a regular personnel change,” it said, pointing to the army’s vital role in defending Armenia. It remained unclear whether Sarkissian will agree to fire Gasparian. The presidential office said only that his top priority now is to help de-escalate and end the grave political crisis in Armenia. It stressed that he is not siding with any political faction. Sarkissian was quick to formalize late on Wednesday the sacking of General Gasparian’s first deputy, Tiran Khachatrian, initiated by Pashinian. The military strongly condemned the sacking in its statement that demanded the government’s resignation. Echoing Armenian opposition demands, Sarkissian urged Pashinian to resign and hand over power to an interim government following the Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the war in Karabakh on November 10. Pashinian has refused to do that. Putin Urges Calm In Armenia February 25, 2021 RUSSIA -- Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board in Moscow, February 24, 2021 Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian by phone on Thursday after Moscow expressed concern at the political crisis in Armenia deepened by the Armenian military’s demands for the government’s resignation. “Vladimir Putin spoke in favor of maintaining order and calm in Armenia and resolving the situation within the framework of the law,” the Kremlin said in a statement on the phone call. “The head of the Russian state called on all parties to show restraint,” it said. Speaking earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov likewise urged Armenian state and political actors to ease their mounting tensions and avoid unconstitutional actions. “We are watching the situation in Armenia with alarm,” the TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying. “And we regard that as an exclusively internal affair of Armenia, our very important and close ally in the Caucasus.” Peskov would not be drawn on a possible Russian mediation in ending the crisis. ARMENIA -- Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses his supporters during a gathering on Republic Square in Yerevan, February 25, 2021 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazian also spoke with by phone. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the two men “stressed the need to maintain regional security and stability.” It gave no others details. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu similarly phoned his Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian. According to the Armenian Defense ministry’s readout of the phone call, Shoigu and Harutiunian discussed the “current situation in Armenia.” Peskov said that political stability in Armenia is essential for a continued implementation of a Russian-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10. The Armenian opposition holds Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat in the six-week war and wants him to resign. The prime minister has rejected these demands. Russian pro-government lawmakers on Wednesday strongly condemned Pashinian for suggesting Armenia’s most advanced Russian-manufactured missiles proved useless during the hostilities. U.S., EU Call For De-Escalation Of Tensions In Armenia February 25, 2021 Armenia - The U.S. Embassy in Yerevan. The United States and the European Union reacted to the deepening political crisis in Armenia on Thursday, urging local stakeholders to avoid violence and defuse tensions though dialogue. “We encourage all parties to exercise calm and restraint and to de-escalate tensions peacefully, without violence,” the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan said in a statement. “The United States is committed to supporting Armenia’s democratic reforms, in line with our shared values, and stresses the importance of democratic institutions and processes as Armenians look to address their political differences through dialogue,” it added. “Political differences must be resolved peacefully and in strict adherence to the principles and processes of parliamentary democracy,” read a separate statement released by the EU’s foreign policy spokesman, Peter Stano. In a clear reference to the Armenian military’s demands for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation, Stano said: “In line with the Armenian Constitution, the armed forces ‘shall maintain neutrality in political matters and shall be under civilian control.’ Maintaining the democratic and constitutional order is the only way Armenia can effectively tackle the challenges it is confronted with.” The military’s top brass voiced its unprecedented demand amid ongoing anti-government rallies staged by Armenian opposition groups. Pashinian rejected and condemned it as a coup attempt. By contrast, opposition leaders voiced support for the army generals. Thousands Rally For, Against Armenian PM February 25, 2021 Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian addresses supporters at Republic Square, Yerevan, February 25, 2021. Thousands of people rallied in Yerevan on Thursday in rival demonstrations sparked by the Armenian military’s demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his government. Pashinian again accused the military of attempting to stage a coup and demanded the removal of Armenia’s top general as he addressed supporters who gathered in the city’s central Republic Square. He also offered to hold crisis talks with opposition groups seeking to topple him over his handling of last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Mind your business: the defense of Armenia’s territorial integrity and borders. This is my order and nobody can disobey it,” he said, appealing to the army’s top brass that demanded his resignation earlier in the day. “The army cannot be drawn into political processes. The army must obey only the people and the political authority elected by them,” he told the crowd that chanted “Nikol prime minister!” Pashinian also said that President Armen Sarkissian should approve his motion to fire Colonel-General Onik Gasparian, the chief of the army’s General Staff. Alternatively, he added, Gasparian should tender his resignation. Sarkissian seemed in no rush to sign a decree relieving Gasparian of his duties. In a written appeal to the nation, Sarkissian expressed serious concern over the political turmoil in the country and urged state bodies, political actors and ordinary citizens to show “restraint and common sense.” Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his political allies and supporters march through Yerevan, February 25, 2021. The head of state, who has largely ceremonial powers, also said he is “urgently taking steps to find ways of easing tensions and resolving the situation peacefully.” He did not elaborate. In a joint statement, Gasparian and four dozen other generals and colonels accused Pashinian’s government of mismanaging the country and putting it “on the brink of destruction.” The statement followed the unexpected sacking of Gasparian’s first deputy, Tiran Khachatrian. The General Staff reaffirmed its demands in another statement issued shortly before the start of the Pashinian-led rally. Meanwhile, an alliance more than a dozen opposition parties rallied supporters in another Yerevan square to voice support for the military. Speakers at the opposition rally included Seyran Ohanian and Yuri Khachaturov, former chiefs of the army staff highly critical of the current government. Both retired generals echoed opposition claims that Pashinian is to blame for Armenia’s defeat in the war. Armenia -- Opposition supporters demonstrate in Yerevan's Liberty Square to demand Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's resignation, February 25, 2021. Pashinian insisted that it is the country’s “corrupt” former leaders who are primarily responsible for the outcome of the six-week war stopped by a Russian-brokered truce on November 10. Addressing thousands of his supporters at Republic Square, Pashinian expressed readiness to start “political consultations” with the opposition on “how to resolve this situation.” He complained that the opposition rejected his December offer to hold snap general elections. “A change of the government can take place only through elections,” the prime minister said before marching with the crowd to other parts of the Armenian capital. Opposition leaders and their supporters chanting “Armenia without Nikol!” marched, meanwhile, to the Armenian parliament building and blocked an adjacent street. The two opposition parties represented in the parliament demanded an emergency session of the National Assembly on the deepening political crisis. Russia ‘Alarmed’ By Political Crisis In Armenia February 25, 2021 RUSSIA -- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaks with journalists gathered at the World Trade Centre's congress centre to follow Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing his annual press conference via a video link from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residenc Russia expressed concern on Thursday at the political crisis in Armenia deepened by the Armenian military’s demands for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Armenian state and political actors to ease mounting tensions and avoid unconstitutional actions. “We are watching the situation in Armenia with alarm,” the TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying. “And we regard that as an exclusively internal affair of Armenia, our very important and close ally in the Caucasus.” Peskov also said Moscow has not yet initiated contacts with Armenian leaders in connection with the dramatic developments in Yerevan. He would not be drawn on a possible Russian mediation in ending the crisis. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazian by phone. The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the two men “stressed the need to maintain regional security and stability.” It gave no others details. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu similarly phoned his Armenian Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian. According to the Armenian Defense Ministry’s readout of the phone call, Shoigu and Harutiunian discussed the “current situation in Armenia.” Peskov said that political stability in Armenia is essential for a continued implementation of a Russian-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement that stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10. The Armenian opposition holds Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat in the six-week war and wants him to resign. The prime minister has rejected these demands. Russian pro-government lawmakers on Wednesday strongly condemned Pashinian for suggesting Armenia’s most advanced Russian-manufactured missiles proved useless during the hostilities. Armenian Military Demands Government’s Resignation February 25, 2021 Armenia - General Onik Gasparian, chief of the Armenian army's General Staff, February 10, 2021. In what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called a coup attempt, the Armenian military’s top brass demanded his and his government resignation on Thursday, accusing them of misrule and incompetence. “Armenia’s prime minister and government are no longer able to make adequate decisions for the Armenian people in this crisis and fateful situation,” read a joint statement signed by Colonel-General Onik Gasparian, the chief of the army’s General Staff, and four dozen other high-ranking officers. “The Armenian Armed Forces have long patiently tolerated the incumbent authorities’ ‘attacks’ aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces, but everything has its limits … The incumbent authorities’ inefficient governance and very serious foreign policy mistakes have put the country on the brink of destruction,” charged the statement. The statement appeared to have been triggered by the sacking of Gasparian’s first deputy, Tiran Khachatrian, which was initiated by Pashinian late on Tuesday. Its signatories, among them the heads of General Staff divisions as well as the commanders of all five army corps, condemned the sacking as an “irresponsible and anti-state move” reflecting Pashinian’s whims, rather than Armenia’s defense and security needs. Pashinian was quick to condemn the statement as an attempt to stage a coup d’etat and urged supporters to gather at Yerevan’s Republic Square to “decide our further actions.” “It is unacceptable for the armed forces to engage in politics and make political statements,” he said in a video address livestreamed on Facebook. Pashinian indicated that Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian remains loyal to him. He said he also decided to fire Gasparian. A crowd led by Pashinian began marching through the center of Yerevan in the afternoon. The prime minister was due to address a pro-government at 4 p.m. local time. The General Staff statement came amid renewed anti-government protests staged by an alliance of Armenian opposition parties blaming Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh and demanding his resignation. The army top brass warned the authorities to “refrain from using force against the people.” The opposition alliance called the Homeland Salvation Movement hailed the military’s unprecedented demand and urged supporters to rally in another Yerevan square to voice support for the top army generals. It accused Pashinian of seeking to provoke “civil clashes and bloodshed.” The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), a key member of the alliance, also backed the military in a separate statement. “Nikol Pashinian has a last chance to resign without upheavals,” the BHK leadership said. Bright Armenia (LHK), another major opposition party not affiliated with the alliance, called on both sides to avoid any street gatherings and defuse tensions. The LHK stated at the same time that the political crisis cannot be resolved without Pashinian’s resignation. Pashinian again ruled out his resignation as he joined pro-government demonstrators and spoke to journalists. “I am not sure that could solve the problem,” he said. “I made several proposals [to the opposition] and they were rejected and I believe that the people’s power must be protected and preserved.” Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2021 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Joseph Bohigian–Photo by Raffi Paul
by
Armenian-American composer and performer Joseph Bohigian often explores displacement, heritage, and identity as diaspora in his works. While normally based in California, Bohigian temporarily moved to his family’s ancestral homeland of Armenia to conduct research and “re-root” his work in the Armenian culture–one that is deeply marked by loss as a result of the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923) and Nagorno-Karabakh wars (1988-1994; 2020). Resulting from this period of relocation is Bohigian’s new work, The Water Has Found Its Crack (for three sopranos, violin, viola, cello, and percussion), a personal exploration of “identity boundaries and belonging in diaspora through music.” As an understanding member of Armenian diaspora and an immense admirer of Bohigian’s work, I jumped at the chance to ask some burning questions.
In his essay, Dink writes about a French-Armenian woman who died while visiting the village of her youth in Turkey. When the question of where she should be buried arose, a man from the village responded, “Let her be buried here…the water has found its crack.” This story of Armenians’ longing to be reunited with their indigenous land, as Dink puts it, “to come and be buried under it,” was something I was thinking a lot about when I decided to move to Armenia to work on this project.
Dink also writes about the internalization of Armenians’ uprooting being passed down through generations. In this way, I viewed my composing of this piece as a process of re-rooting myself through music. It was a process of filtering Armenian music through my experience in diaspora in search of what Edward Said refers to as the contrapuntal nature of exilic awareness. My approach was to find a way in which, as a third-generation Armenian-American, my sense of Armenianness and Americanness exist not in opposition, but in counterpoint.
With Armenians having lost so much art to the genocide and Nagorno-Karabakh wars, how do you navigate the act of cultural preservation into your work with creating music that speaks to your present?
In The Water Has Found its Crack, this cultural preservation came partially through the text. When I was living in Yerevan, I worked at the Komitas Museum-Institute translating folk songs collected by the Armenian composer, musicologist, and priest Komitas Vardapet. I noticed that many of the songs referenced water as a metaphor for distance, longing, and loss, which fit nicely with the idea of the water finding its crack. For my piece, I took fragments of these lyrics and rearranged them to construct a new narrative. My goal was to capture the essence of the contemporary Armenian experience of dispersion rooted in our historical experience of exile, showing a continuity of Armenian identity formation through music across time.
There is also a section of the piece in which I wrote a quasi-folk song, one which recalls gestures of traditional folk music while also being something new. Like with the text, on a musical level I’m more interested in creating something new out of characteristics of the old, rather than quoting an existing folk song. This was not so much a conscious recontextualization of specific folk song material, but rather a way for the music to be representative of the sound world in which I had immersed myself in Armenia. It was only later that I discovered specific connections between musical gestures in my quasi-folk song and the traditional Armenian music I had been listening to.
I wrote another piece in Armenia called Khazeri Yerazhshtutyun (Music of Khazes) which deals explicitly with the dispossession of Armenian culture. The piece is a reinterpretation of the traditional Armenian system of musical notation which uses neumes called khaz. Much of the knowledge of the khaz system has been lost, so rather than trying to decipher the neumes’ original meanings, I treat them as gestural directions for the performer in a way that they can take on a new life as a form of graphic notation.
Joseph Bohigian performs with Ensemble Decipher–Photo by Alan Hankers
It was important to me to have a collaborative relationship with the singers from the beginning of writing The Water Has Found its Crack in order to effectively convey the types of music I’m referencing. I sent recordings of Armenian folk and sacred music to familiarize them with the sounds I had internalized, not only through my study in Armenia but also going back to the Armenian music I heard growing up in Fresno. We listened to sharakanner (hymns) I recorded at various churches in Yerevan, folk songs collected by Komitas, and kef music brought to the U.S. by Armenians from the Ottoman Empire in order to discuss the ways certain gestures in my piece reference these styles of singing. For example, there are these free, melismatic lines early on in the piece, which I thought of as a cross between a sped-up version of the sharakanner and ornamentations in migrant folk songs. With those recordings as a reference, I could describe my stylistic intentions in a way that went beyond the notation in the score.
Since that first visit to Armenia, I’ve been interested in asking not only, “Where is home?” but also, “What does home even mean?” for a people who have been continuously uprooted for over a century. I like journalist Liana Aghajanian’s answer to these questions in her Dining in Diaspora project, “Armenia may be a country, but it is also a concept, one that functions independent of geography.” It’s this reconstituted home divorced from place that really interests me. I’m searching for a reunion of multiple homes through music to mend the crack of displacement in the Armenian collective memory; to reconstitute Armenia not only as a physical place, but also as a spiritual one independent of geography.
Joseph Bohigian at Hovhannavank monastery in Armenia–Photo by Benjamin Dubuis
Internally, this work is partly my attempt to situate myself within the realm of Armenian music. As I delved deeper into the relationship between my compositional work and Armenian culture, I found myself asking, “What is Armenian music? Is the music I’m writing ‘Armenian music?’” I didn’t necessarily come away with a clear answer to these questions, but to me it’s more important that I ask them than it is to succinctly answer them. The history of Armenian music is such that it has not only interacted with neighboring cultures, but it also interacts with music in the places around the world where Armenians have recreated “home.” In this way, I think the boundaries of Armenian music are quite fluid in a way that allows the music of Armenians in the diaspora to be just as Armenian as music created in Armenia.
Part of my interest in approaching Armenian issues in my work is that they are quite often overlooked because of their lack of political salience, but have universal resonances. I believe bridges can be built through sound, both interculturally and within a culture. Sometimes connections across cultures are expressed within a work, such as in my piece Hepimiz Hrant’ız on the reaction in Turkey to the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, where I sample protest chants in Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish, and English. Though The Water Has Found its Crack originates as an exploration of cultural reunification within the Armenian diaspora, I hope the piece will encourage listeners to make their own connections with this theme.
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN is an editorially-independent program of the American Composers Forum, funded with generous donor and institutional support. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and may not represent the views of ICIYL or ACF.
According to witness accounts, the quake disrupted mobile phone connections and the internet.
A 4.7-magnitude earthquake has struck 13 kilometres south of Yerevan, Armenia, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reported on Saturday. The quake was registered at 11:29:24.3 UTC at a depth of 2 kilometres.
Local emergency services, however, said the tremor was registered at a depth of 10 kilometres. Forty six aftershock have been registered since the quake hit, they added.
According to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, one house was damaged in Yerevan and one citizen slightly injured.
Sputnik Armenia said residents of high-rise apartment buildings evacuated their blocks after the aftershocks. They were advised to stay outside by the authorities.
The possibility of the official opening of borders and ensuring of trade of Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan was manipulated in too many different ways. This is what deputy of the ruling My Step bloc of the National Assembly of Armenia Hayk Gevorgyan said during today’s parliamentary briefings, responding to the question about possible risks in case of such development of the situation.
According to him, there is already mutual trade between Armenia and Turkey today, regardless of whether there are diplomatic ties or not and regardless of Armenia’s views on Turkey.
As for the question about what may happen when the borders are officially opened, the parliamentarian said it is first necessary to state that Armenia is a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union and that Armenia’s borders are also the borders of the Eurasian Economic Union, adding that there will be obstacles and customs restrictions of the Eurasian Economic Union when being imported on the border with Armenia.
in
For Maral Najarian, moving to Armenia was supposed to be a dream come true.
The 49-year-old Lebanese-Armenian moved last August from economically shattered Lebanon, hoping to find a better future and financial stability in a place she felt an attachment to.
But on arrival to Yerevan, Armenian authorities encouraged her to sign up to a settlement programme in the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which soon after she set up home there became embroiled in a ferocious six-week conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Both sides agreed to a Russian-brokered ceasefire on 10 November – but that same day, Najarian and family friend Viken Euljekian went missing on their way out of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Three months later, her siblings both in Beirut and Yerevan suspect she’s in an Azerbaijani prison and fear for her life – as they accuse authorities both in Lebanon and Armenia of not doing enough to help get her released.
11:37, 1 February, 2021
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 1, ARMENPRESS. Lt. Colonel Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the spokesperson of the Armenian military during the 2020 Artsakh War, says he doesn’t rule out the possibility that he was given “false” information during the war, which he in turn conveyed to the public.
“During the war, I made around 170 posts saying we are going to win, and not that we are winning, and I’ve made equal posts saying the situation is very difficult, that this is a fight for existence and so on,” Hovhannisyan told reporters in parliament. “Because today we’ve lost, this is a very difficult emotional situation for us all, and after this we want to unconditionally find traitors, and I very much regret that they want to find traitors among the military.”
He said that the information he was conveying to the public was entirely obtained from the Miinstry of Defense, the General Staff and the Defense Army of Artsakh, at the same time he didn’t rule out the possibility that the information could’ve been false.
“I don’t rule it out, there were numerous contradictions during the war,” the Lt. Colonel said.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Lithuanian authorities do their possible to attract young men to serve in the armed forces. Another thing is that what they do does not always bring the desired results.
Due to the unique security situation Lithuania faces, it was decided to reinstate conscription in 2015, though, frankly, in a democratic society conscription seems very anachronistic. The fact is nothing compares to highly trained and fully funded professional armed forces. However, Lithuanian authorities consider that “desperate times call for desperate measures”.
Thus, it was proclaimed that military service is duty, honor, challenges and vivid experiences. The more so, conscript soldiers are paid monthly allowances an cumulative payment after service (max total – 3123,90 euro) and their former or new employer after service will be paid 6 month subsidy (increasing chances of finding work). Even the new way of choosing conscripts was invented! The draft lists are drawn up randomly at the beginning of each year, by means of a computer program, the so called “lottery”.
Nevertheless, young Lithuanians are not in a hurry to serve. The understaffing problem is so serious, that the authorities began to use the intimidation tool to solve the problem. Today, the evasion to perform military service may result in a fine of between EUR 30 and 140, failure to perform compulsory military service may result in a fine of EUR 140 to 300. And failure to serve in the military may result in criminal liability and a fine, arrest or imprisonment for up to 3 years.
The unprecedented case occurred recently. Arnas R., who had emigrated, returned to Lithuania last summer. Having no job, he decided to apply for military service himself.
He began his service on September 28. After starting his service, he got acquainted with the army procedure during the first week. He did not like such a life, routine, lacked freedom. “I could not do what I wanted,”Arnas R. later told law enforcement. “After the first two weeks of service, when all the soldiers were in quarantine, I finally decided not to serve in the army,” he explained.
The young man thought that if he refuses to take the oath he would be exempted from military service. On October 16, Arnas R. refused to take the oath.
A criminal case was instituted against him in accordance with Article 317 of the CC. for non-execution of the order. In court, the guy was sentenced to 20 days in custody and the sentence took effect this week.
Paradox of the Lithuanian army is that the authorities allow to serve those who want, but if they change their mind, these young people are punished. In case this particular man did not apply for military service himself, he could never be enlisted. The fortune could be on his side and the lottery could not chose him among others to be called up for duty.
Lithuania is doing what it thinks is “best” for its national defense. As a result, the decision to reinstate conscription prompted many Lithuanian youths that do not want to waste time serving in the military to leave the country. This increases the already significant amount of Lithuanian migration to the EU, which it turns undermines the country’s security in the long run.
In case a conscript so disliked to serve in the army that he chose a dungeon instead of service, the authorities should think about the situation in the armed forces instead of punishing him. It is a very odd way to convince him not to leave and attract others. The authorities, therefore, are involved in the increasing of emigration and the loss of the country’s youth, defenders, that is, the FUTURE.