Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Parents of Armenian servicemen who died in non-combat conditions while on duty, again gathered outside the Armenian government building on May 30. They require a fair investigation to identify the true causes of death for their sons.

Earlier, the press service of the Armenian government announced that the death cases of Valery Muradyan, Tigran Ohanjanyan, Arman Hakobyan, Andranik Silakyan, and Artur Ghazaryan will be reviewed.

Irina Ghazaryan, a mother of Artur Ghazaryan, said to reporters that the first meeting of the commission recently took place. She stressed instead of receiving answers to her questions, she has new ones.

Ghazaryan noted that experts were not familiar with the case file at all. She added that these experts were provided with results of the examination of which no one was aware. The mother expressed suspicion of the investigators, involved in the case.

She noted that the authorities do not fulfill their promise, therefore she does not expect an objective investigation of all the circumstances of the death of not only her son but also the rest of the soldiers.

In July 2018, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with the parents of the military who died while serving. Parents told him how their cases are handled in the courts and why they are dissatisfied.

Meanwhile, Armenia continues to fight the shortage of manpower in the army. Even internal troops began to be called to the front line., but this also does not save the situation.

The enormous migration from Armenia of the population due to poverty and powerlessness under the rule of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, as well as large-scale corruption are the main reasons for the small generation of conscripts. It's no secret that many Armenian families got into loans so that their children were not taken to the army, and if they had to go to serve, then at least not in Karabakh.

Another fact is that Armenian youth does not want to serve in the army as a whole. There is a logical explanation for this in the form of statistics of deaths on the front line. Plus, a very high percentage of deaths as a result of "accidents" of various kinds.

In recent years, Armenia has been trying to solve the problem of the shortage of conscripts. They even took sick guys whose illnesses affected them during the service. At the end of 2017, when the military enlistment offices got their paws into the universities of Armenia, canceling deferrals for students, then young people came to protest.

Now the line for conscription has reached sports shooters. Defense Minister David Tonoyan said at the government hour that the Armenian best sports shooters will be invited to the armed forces as shooting instructors.

Tonoyan said that by creating a sports company in the armed forces, the government will include the best Armenian shooters as instructors.

Of course, an invitation to the Armenian army of sports shooters, both as snipers and shooting instructors, is a necessary measure. Behind it lies an acute shortage of "cannon fodder" and professionals, which David Tonoyan is well aware of.

However, even this decision is unlikely to save the Armenian army from complete defeat. Tonoyan and Armenian generals should remember that there are plenty of specialists in the Azerbaijani Army capable of successfully hunting for Armenian snipers. So, if earlier young youths were returning from the Armenian army in coffins, now the remains of sports shooters will flow.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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