Mothers of deceased Armenian soldiers protest outside government
By Rashid Shirinov
A group of Armenian women, wearing black clothes, had gathered
outside the Government Building in Yerevan on April 13, protesting
against the soldier deaths.
The mothers of five Armenian soldiers, who were killed in
non-combat conditions in different years, demanded the government
to find out the real reasons of the deaths of their sons in the
army.
They demanded the government to punish those responsible for the
death of their children, Armenian media report.
Mothers complained that neither Armenia’s Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan nor President Serzh Sargsyan received them so that they could demand answer from them.
“[Defense Minister] Vigen Sargsyan says he is incompetent. I asked him about the murders, he said he is not competent. But why does he sit in the chair of Defense Minister then?,” asked Irina Ghazaryan, whose son Arthur died in non-combat conditions. She added that Vigen Sargsyan should apologize.
Recently, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office informed that this year six soldiers died in non-combat conditions in the Armenian Armed Forces since the beginning of 2017. Two deaths were caused by murders, two soldiers died of accidents, one committed suicide, and another one died of health problems.
The statistics of non-combat losses of the Armenian Armed Forces continues to grow steadily. Armenian media state that a total of 206 deaths were recorded in the Armenian army from 2010 to 2015, and a considerable part of them, 48, were suicides, while 43 were murders.
As for 2016, a total of 162 deaths were registered in the Armenian Armed Forces, including 51 cases in non-combat conditions.
Frequent death cases, violence, brutality, and non-obedience reign in the army of the Former Soviet republic. The government is faced with protests and disagreements among people who are unwilling to do their military service.
Armenian parents are afraid of sending their sons to Army and therefore try to find any opportunity to keep their sons far from that horror. Many youth flee abroad so that not to serve in the army.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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