Armenian soldiers forcefully sent to serve in Karabakh
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
In "post-revolutionary" Armenia anarchy and legal uncertainty triumph today.
Recently, riots occurred in one of the military units stationed in the Armenian Meghri region. About 600 soldiers attempted to leave the location of the military unit.
Commenting on this shameful incident for the army, Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan said the matter is "some soldiers-offenders".
"Several soldiers violating discipline tried to impose their own rules on a military unit in the spirit of the manners of the 1990s, to be guided by special conditions, serve in separate clothes, eat a separate menu, shield and officers. They tried to involve other soldiers, inciting them," said Hovhannisyan.
He denied reports of mass breaches of discipline and an attempt by 600 soldiers to leave the unit.
Hovhannisyan noted that misconduct and disobedience in the Armenian Armed Forces are impermissible and will be punished with the utmost rigor of the law.
Hovhannisyan added that the high command of the unit conducted an internal investigation and decided to punish the rank-and-file servicemen and the commanding personnel, sending several officers to resign.
However, everything seems to be not as simple as Hovhannisyan wanted to present. The reason is not in the "criminal order" at all but in the uprising of soldiers against officer tyranny.
Relatives of military personnel, serving in Meghri came to the building of the Armenian government on March 23. One of the mothers said for several days she had not heard from her son, whom she then found in the "military police" in the occupied Khankendi.
Earlier, a woman met her son and found out that several hundred soldiers had rebelled because of the behavior of one of the officers, had left the military unit, but returned, listening to the calls of the commander. At midnight, a company was built, 20 soldiers were chosen, they were torn off their uniforms and sent by bus to the Kapan military police, from where some were transported to occupied Karabakh.
She told that those who stayed in Kapan are threatened with court, the rest are going to be distributed as a punishment among military units on the front line.
The difficult socio-economic situation of Armenia also affected its armed forces, said Azerbaijani MP Parliament Elman Nasirov.
He noted that after the April battles, it may be the first time when reports are being spread that the Armenian army is experiencing a deep crisis.
"In particular, a riot of Armenian soldiers against officers caused a big resonance in Armenia. The soldiers left the military unit without permission, it became the most discussed topic in the local media and social networks, and it came to the point that, like under the Sargsyan regime, the mother of the soldiers again began to protest," stressed Nasirov.
The fact that the Armenian press writes as a punishment to the frontline zone in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh is particularly noteworthy, he noted.
"The place to punish the rebellious soldiers is occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Thus, the Armenian media once again mention the participation of Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and provide evidence that Armenian soldiers serve in Nagorno-Karabakh," said Nasirov.
Nasirov noted that there is arbitrariness in the Armenian armed forces and a big gap between soldiers and officers, adding that today, the Armenian soldier does not trust and does not believe his officer.
"What kind of fighting spirit can have such a soldier? This is a very serious signal for Armenian leadership. If the situation does not change, and the leadership of Armenia will not soon demonstrate a constructive position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, it is possible that in a near perspective, the supreme commander-in-chief of Armenia may be left without armed forces at all, or their existence will be nominal," he believes.
Nasirov stressed that the army, which has no fighting spirit, in which the soldier does not trust and does not believe his officer, cannot be considered a real army.
The criminal order from which the Armenian society suffers was projected onto the armed forces and manifested itself in a high level of crime, hazing, violations of subordination and military discipline.
After the velvet revolution, Armenia is experiencing anarchy and legal uncertainty. Therefore, such a massive violation of discipline involving an unprecedented number of military personnel is also a projection of what is happening in the civilian world.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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