Margarita Khachatryan, Chairman of “Soldier” NGO Coordination Council, answering the question of Aravot.am that the number of soldiers is gradually decreasing, and the bright evidence of it is the number of parents of soldiers gathered near the Republican military gathering station, which was quite many in the past, and it was not possible to pass through, now a limited number of parents are standing there on the days of gathering, said, “The number of soldiers is not reduced, simply the government amended the Article on draft deferment, according to which, now, people in deferment are conscripted, moreover, if there is a need for it, then, the new army is supplemented with contract-based servicemen, if needed.” Margarita Khachatryan assures that we are not short of a soldier in the army. To our next question of what she thinks about the paid service, and bringing of soldiers from outside, she replied, “The paid services project is underway. To have a professional army, we need to have soldiers on contract-base, mainly supplementing the front lines. In addition, this may result in many jobs openings.” To our observation whether the contract-based servicemen would be from outside or Armenian, she said, “It is not ruled out that they might be from outside. If we only get to increase the salary of contract-based servicemen, their conditions would be more improved, then we would work towards supplementing our army with contract-based servicemen. And, if it turns out that the number of conscript is few, the public institutions would not have much to do, because the contract-based servicemen are adult people. To the point, I have already accommodated seven persons from Syria to contract-based service.” Margarita Khachatryan added that the salary of contract-based servicemen is 100 000 drams, they are provided with food, and if they have families, appropriate conditions are created for them, too. With respect to the terms of contract-based service, the minimum is three years.
Eva HAKOBYAN
