Yesterday the current incident resulting in the death of one of the soldiers happened in the army. In one of the military bases 19 year old private soldier Mkrtchyan Hayk Vasil, recruited from Echmiadzin military commissariat was killed. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Defense, the soldier was killed “as a result of the shots made by the term soldier Nazlukhanyan Lendrush Samvel because of the violation of weapon handling safety rules”. Who is guilty? Who is responsible for almost every-day murders of young Armenians in times of peace? Who can guarantee the security of life of the young people serving in the army and of the newly recruited ones? These questions which in fact have their addressees have become rhetorical. The government of the Republic is responsible for the moral-psychological atmosphere in the army, as well as the murders of the soldiers in general and the government of the armed forces is responsible for this in particular. The first target of accuse is the Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, which is comprehensible from the moral point of view. However, in these discussions about the incidents in the army the legal-legislative part of the issue is disregarded. The thing is that in conformity with the law on “The Defense of RA” the system of the government of armed forces was changed. According to the law passed in 2008 the liabilities of the RA President, the government, the Minister of Defense and head of Armed Forces Headquarters are distinctly separated as regards the governance of the army. In particular, according to the law the liabilities of the Minister of Defense and the head of Armed Forces Headquarters are separated. The latter, the head of Armed Forces Headquarters is the highest ranking military official of the country. That is to say, in terms of pure officiality first of all the head of Armed Forces Headquarters, Yuri Khachaturov is responsible for such incidents happening in the army, as well as the atmosphere and the discipline in the army. Has anyone ever heard him express any point of view with respect to the murders in the army? Of course not, since this never happened. This, of course does not mean that the Minister of Defense or other high-ranking military official is not responsible for this situation in the army and these flagrant cases. But if we speak about them the first one to stand in this line is Yuri Khachaturov, who, as it is well known, has “indulgence” from the highest government. Nevertheless, the head of Armed Forces Headquarters promised yesterday to one of our journalist to answer the questions on the latest incidents in the army. If this promise remains valid, his interview will be presented in the next issue of our newspaper.
