Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

For many men in Armenia the contractual military service has become one of the rare opportunities to somehow earn a living.

The reason is that Armenia, a country with the highest unemployment rate in the CIS area, cannot provide its citizens with enough jobs. On the other hand, those who have a job receive low salaries that are not enough to feed a family. Therefore, many Armenian men prefer working in the military rather than living in poverty.

However, contractual military service does not save them from all social problems and debts. Recently, Armenian media reported about another suicide in the Armenian army, a dead body of contract serviceman Melik Khachatryan was found on June 1 at the warehouse of a military unit.

Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper states that the serviceman wrote a suicidal letter for his family. The letter reads that Khachatryan had debts of several thousand dollars, which he could not pay off.

Now the deceased Khachatryan’s family, his wife and 10-year-old child are left without their breadwinner.

This tragedy once again demonstrates the depth of the crisis in which Armenia is. If a serviceman of an elite military unit commits suicide, then the situation of majority of Armenian citizens is much more doleful.

Every now and then Armenian media reports about new suicide cases. The poverty paired with unemployment and other socio-economic problems in the country force Armenians to commit suicides.

The official statistics show that about a third of Armenian population live in poverty. Due to the failure of the Armenian government to tackle the country’s problems, this figure is increasing every year, both in cities and villages of Armenia.

As for unemployment, the International Labour Organization predicts that in a couple of years the unemployment rate in Armenia will exceed 20 percent. Today this figure equals to 18 percent.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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