A few days ago, Serzh Sargsyan declared that it does not matter that Vigen Sargsyan is number one on the RPA list, the Army will be apolitical. In an interview with journalists, in response to the question to Vigen Sargsyan who he visualizes this in practice, as the soldiers seeing him know that he is number one, and it could be an indirect pressure, he replied, “I see very clearly. The exploitation of the political resource was excluded in our army for many years. Certainly, on the one hand, Defense Minister’s being a party member seems an advantage, on the other hand, we must understand that all the problems that exist in the army, all the unresolved issues that exist, they are also connected to the political party which I represent.
Holding a political position assumes as a chance to show your policy, your direction and trend so as to carry the burden which exists for your accomplished or half-accomplished works. Therefore, I think that we should understand the President’s words directly. There will be no development of political party activity in the army as it was not in the previous elections. And if the soldiers decide that the Defense Minister is doing his job well and decide to vote for the party in which I lead the electoral campaign list, it is their civil right and choice.”
To the question of whether he can give a guarantee that the army will not be oriented during the elections, Vigen Sargsyan replied, “Yes, the army has not and will not be oriented during the elections.” To the question of whether he has no fear that a part of the army, however, will defend Seyran Ohanyan, Vigen Sargsyan replied, “Generally, I think having a fear in the politics is not a category. I think that everyone should present his program, and every citizen should be able to clearly understand which program and which actors he gives the preference. The rest is from the genre of fiction.”
