As viewed by director Arshak Zakaryan, the Minister of Defence, Vigen Sargsyan pursues a right path. According to him, the minister is engaged in strictly sufficing the army and the changes he suggests are risky. “They are risky in the sense that one should have the courage to suggest such changes, he has that courage and suggests”, explained Arshak Zakaryan.
Referring to the initiative of defining 3 year-term compulsory military service, the speaker stated that they had misunderstood the suggestion: “We have the Institute after Vazgen Sargsyan, where, if we say, children who are good at other sciences go to study, we will lie to ourselves. It is not so. There go people who cannot go to anywhere else…now what is suggested – you sign a contract, use the right to deferment, study, graduate and then you should go to serve as an officer. The already graduated officers who have received education and profession will make improvements in the army, it will be easy to deal with them.”
He also addressed “Yes em (I am)” program and noticed that good suggestions have been made similarly for the ones choosing this program: “You finish your army service, want to serve for a year more during which you serve for 2 weeks, go home for a week, generally, if the service turned into a 3 year-one and carried out with this methodology – to serve for 2 weeks and go home for a week, it would be wonderful, a lot of people would like to serve in this way. 5.200.000 AMD which is being suggested, do you imagine how good it is for a village resident, it already gives him a chance to buy a tractor, cattles, technology or a house, is it bad?”
Arpine SIMONYAN
