David Jamalyan: This government does not have the concept of a powerful army

The government is doing nothing to address the real problems facing the army, military expert David Jamalyan told Alpha News, referring to the settlement of the issue of persons who have reached the age of 27 and have not completed compulsory military service.

“The armed forces will not gain anything from this initiative, and it does not and cannot have anything to do with restoring the combat capability of the army. They simply solve the problem of replenishing the budget and nothing more. This government has not and will not pay due attention to the armed forces.

The country has the opportunity to raise the army to its feet. There are funds in the country that, over the years, could have been allocated to the armed forces, and the undermined combat capability of the army could be restored. During the post-war period, tens of millions of dollars were wasted on modernizing the police system. If this money were sent to the Armed Forces, we could have solved many issues.

This initiative will simply replenish the budget and will not give anything to the army. Meanwhile, the government is doing nothing to address the real problems facing the army, because in the ‘Crossroads of Peace’ that they represent, Armenia will not have a need for a strong army,” Jamalyan said.

According to the expert, the desires of the Armenian authorities and the Armenian people do not coincide.

“The three post-war years were quite a long period for bringing the army into proper condition and restoring the combat effectiveness of soldiers. In three years, it was entirely possible to completely restore the army’s combat capabilities, and today we could have had an army whose level of combat capability would be in no way inferior to the level of 2018.

It seems that every step is being taken to restore the army’s combat capability, but nothing has actually been done. And the reason is that this government does not have the concept of a powerful army. At the moment, the government wants an improved police system, and it is no coincidence that they are demonstratively putting enormous effort and resources into that.

The desires of this government and the Armenian people do not coincide. In fact, if they continue to remain in power, then in the coming years we will witness a consistent policy aimed at reducing the role of the Armed Forces,” Jamalyan concluded.