A bill drafted by the Defense Ministry and posted on a government website would reduce the length of the military duty for male citizens from 24 to 18 months. An explanatory note attached to it says that the resulting drop in the number of conscripts serving in the armed forces would be offset by an increased number of contract soldiers recruited in recent years.
Opposition lawmakers dismissed this assertion on Thursday. One of them, Tigran Abrahamian, said the Armenian military is already grappling with staffing problems. Abrahamian argued that it continues to regularly draft reservists for month-long combat duty on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
In his words, the problems have been acknowledged by Defense Ministry officials and some pro-government lawmakers. One of them, Hayk Sargsian, noted earlier this year that the number of conscripts has steadily declined in the last 15 years.
“This government has taken no concrete steps to turn our armed forces into a [contractual] professional army,” said Gegham Manukian, another opposition deputy sitting on the Armenian parliament committee on defense and security.
Both Manukian and Abrahamian described the Defense Ministry bill as a ploy by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian designed to win more votes for his Civil Contract party in next year’s parliamentary elections. Parliament speaker Alen Simonian, who is also a senior Civil Contract figure, denied that. Simonian defended the bill while declining to comment on what he sees as its merits.
Abrahamian claimed that the proposed shortening of the military service is also yet another concession to Baku planned by Pashinian.
“The main thing for this government is not ensuring the security of the country and our citizens but establishing a false peace with Azerbaijan at any cost,” said the lawmaker representing the opposition Pativ Unem bloc.
Senior Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly stated that Armenia’s “militarization” is one of the obstacles to peace between the two countries. One of them called last year for “restrictions” to be placed on the Armenian armed forces.