Another tragic incident was recorded in the army on September 24. A contract serviceman was killed in a grenade explosion. According to preliminary reports, the incident was preceded by an altercation between servicemen. The previous widely reported case involving the death of a serviceman in non-combat circumstances occurred about a month ago, when the death was reported as a suicide.
The horrifying regularity of such tragedies continues. There is hardly a month without news of another such incident. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, the Ministry of Defense has been intensively publicizing the “surprise inspections” carried out by Minister Papikyan and Chief of the General Staff Asryan at military units, presenting them as efforts to monitor discipline and order. On the very day of the latest tragedy, another such report was issued, saying that Minister Papikyan had spoken with servicemen who had committed various disciplinary violations.
With dozens of deaths occurring every year in the army in peacetime, the Ministry of Defense appears to have no response other than intensifying its publicity campaign.
Yet the latest tragedy shows that covering up the situation with a flurry of publicity does not solve a single problem, just as no problem can be solved through inspections by the defense minister or the chief of the General Staff. Problems can be solved when institutional mechanisms are functioning, when the structures responsible for discipline, order and compliance with military regulations are doing their job in the armed forces.
When those mechanisms do not work, or do not work effectively enough; when years with dozens of deaths have been recorded for almost three years now, yet the overall picture does not fundamentally change, then it is time to consider changing those responsible for ensuring the effective functioning of the system. Ultimately, the issue here is both human lives and the reputation of Armenia’s Armed Forces.
Of course, the very notion of reputation is alien to Armenia’s political authorities. The painful evidence of this is the way the authorities have radically changed their discourse in just a few years on Artsakh, the Declaration of Independence, and Armenia’s place and role.
If reputation were genuinely valued, instead of such a drastic change in position there would simply have been resignations — a relinquishing of political power. Thus, the devaluation of human life takes place alongside the devaluation of the very concept of reputation.
When the overriding priority becomes retaining power — with the absolute priority of ensuring personal security — all other issues, including the safety of servicemen in peacetime, are pushed deep into the shadows. And from those shadows, tragedies emerge with dangerous regularity.
Hakob BADALYAN
