– After every tragedy in the army the people in charge of the army say that the army is the mirror of the society where there are people from all sectors of the society and it is impossible to escape from such situations at all. The army is a close system with a high level of discipline. Do you think that in case of stronger discipline there may be such situations again? Are these justifications reasonable?
– Yes, the army is a close but a unique system. It is a strong organism but even small incidents hit that organism strongly. I assure that the dynamics of reduction of crimes in the army is so evident that it is impossible not to notice. Heavy crimes have been cut down by 38%. Of course it is not good to speak of lives of people with figures, but there is no other way. The statistics shows that the recent information about the army is marred and exaggerated. We have nothing to hide and it is clear that the society is divided in two parts. Representatives from both poles of the society are in the army. How can a crime be hidden if representatives of both sides give information? This means that the rumors about hiding crimes are not serious. When talking to people who have lost their child it is very difficult to behave normally because if you say something wrong, you will have to hear unjustified accusations. The young people of 18-25 age that join the army have different levels of education and behavior and in the army they start the process of self-establishment. In the beginning they are under strict control but again sometimes there are processes that we are not able to watch. They are our children and the children of our brothers and sometimes they have conflicts. Every six months the society changes, thus the army changes as well, and the methods of crimes change too. Sometimes there are even Satanist soldiers who receive advices from their partners how to plan murders in the army. We have found such notepad in which the soldier had written his plans how to cut people. They are still our children and we are the ones who must correct those shortcomings. This requires huge work and when we say that the number of crimes has reduced, it means that a lot of work has been done. There are no other countries that do the same load of work with the same human resources.
– But in many cases officials and officers in the army are also involved in crimes. Is it possible to control in a manner not to let officials be involved in such crimes?
– It is possible and it is being done. There are too many people in the army and it is simply impossible to control every movement but we do make sure that this is reduced to minimum. The problem is that if there are such crimes in participation of officers, usually those are people with the same age as soldiers or they know about it but keep silence. Ultimately they have the same psychology as the soldiers. Often people speak of elder soldiers’ rule in the army but in fact it is about friends and phone calls; when they have problems they call their friends and relatives to the military bases.
– Military bases are closed structures. How can you bring people in from outside?
– Yes, these cases are prevented by law-enforcers. We are able to swiftly receive such information and we are able to preclude such cases very quickly. Today all the boys at young age know that the military police received such information very quickly. That’s why they are wary of such attempts. But that is not my business. That is your business my beloved society. You should fight against such phenomena as parents, neighbors, relatives, aunts, uncles. You should understand that the soldier that calls you for help is a soldier on the other side as well. You should understand by now that by doing so you are treating incorrectly to the army. But no, most of the time such parents and relatives welcome and support such phenomena. When seeing their sons off to the army they instead of telling to obey the commanders say, “call me when you feel someone is trying to offend you.” So why doesn’t the society voice this? Don’t they know that the parents and relatives send their sons to the army with such commands? And these guys in such cases instead of going to the law-enforcers call their friends and relatives. As a result all kinds of crimes are committed.
– Don’t you think that it is a result of impunity? If there had been confidence to the legal system, judicial system and if the citizen had been sure that the guilty commander or officer would be punished he/she wouldn’t have involved his/her relative or friend in such processes.
– Prior to thinking so, the person should try to memorize an example when a citizen had applied to the military police and hadn’t been supported by the latter. If you bring me a single example we can discuss the second as well. I have headed the military police for 14 years and all the crimes have been punished. The job of the military police is to identify the crime, track down the culprits and punish them by sending to the relevant bodies. As of the rest of the process then it depends on the other structures. Now I have a status of a deputy-minister of defense, which coordinates the law-abiding structures. Now the tactics of work has changed. Now I am able to see the whole field and am sure that it would be possible to investigate any crime. There are merely long-lasting or short-term cases. A crime may remain uninvestigated only in one case. It is when the investigator, criminal and the prosecutors are villains and are trying to “cover the case.” I get shocked when I see that also the people complain under the auspices of the opposition, whose case happened 10 years ago and when the main person responsible for the crimes is Gagik Jhangiryan. Among the complaints brought up by the opposition there are the ones that took place 10 years ago and during that process 20 investigators have been changed. Now the majority of the big criminal cases of the army have a ten-year age. Now Jhangiryan is next to these parents and advises them to complain and file charges. Have you forgotten who you have been cursing all the time?
– But the recent sit-in strike of the dead soldiers’ parents in front of the President’s office related to the recent murders, didn’t it?
– No, the majority of them related to the previous years.
– During such cases most of the time you are the one that goes out to meet with these parents. Are you responsible of responding to them?
– If questions arise in connection with the case, of course, I am responsible for all circumstances, even when I’m not responsible to take the responsibility on me, because I think our army and people in the origins of the moral and human responsibility. But there is a case where the defense of the citizen who applied for admission were rejected in this case, it is excluded, ministry of defense is a door in a closed military is intolerant of any closed door, beaten and to renewed speculation that we see the rabbits ears. It’s OK. We will very quickly reveal those people who are organizing these protests, and we will show the society how certain forces are using the tragedy of certain people for their own interests, we will show how they destroy the army, imported from abroad through various sects and their support service providers. Against all this, we are now working well.
– Can you mention a case when the parent, who lost the son, found the justice in the courtroom? I mean a decision, which wouldn’t say that the son committed a suicide.
– The main complaints are from the judicial system and it is their problem. The court is the body that can provide absolute objectivity if there was a will. As of your question then I should say that no parent can be satisfied by any court decision because nothing can bring back the life of their children.
– The parents of the killed soldier Aghasi Abrahamyan from Yeghnikner military base complain that the only friend of their son Grisha Yegoryan is illegally hiding in the military police. Why is he there?
– I am well aware of this case. The absolute command of the situation in this case is revealed by us. And in the coming days we will put forward the "zero tolerance" thesis that we do not tolerate even the witness care officer and soldier. In case if the officer, who does not like to walk around in the prevention, thinking that his company is not part of a soldier, he will be punished now, it will not be tolerated: one year we soldier, officer teach you how to do this or that case is throwing stones, and stones to collect time now has come the time to gather stones of our orders, instructions, persuasions, as knowledge of the course, and now it is necessary to collect no longer ring will not go unpunished. We realize that we are now will be a double blow for us because now we are also to blame for the fact that punishment is not only criminal, but also indifference manifested by the person. I know that there is great resistance, we deserve, but, honestly, I used I like things will not remain unpunished because no good case and we will do the job right, and nothing, not a curse for us. G. Yegoryan is not isolated. He is in the military police for his own good, for the purpose of witness protection and in the interests of his security and the free status of the parents to meet him, talk to a witness, and everything else the case will show, we do not have the right people at risk. The other soldiers killed by the result of upbringing. We are taught on television "go criminal," not to tell the truth to the police. If we do so we are bad people. So all this is a result of upbringing. After the tragedy occurs parents weep and complain. We have decided that in the near future we and all the responsible bodies will meet the parents, who complain. Relatives and their lawyers involved and the presence of all you must get in and one by one, case by case, each case will be no one to say that secret talks are taking place. Everything will be said in front of everybody. We will also tell which of the cases are already closed. I’ll take the responsibility on me and I will say that this – these cases are closed, and we will have nothing to do there.
– Are there many such cases?
– There are not too many cases that still need to be investigated. There are 3-4 cases like that. There are many cases, which we cannot say are closed because of the human factor to the parents. But I am not willing to listen to such accusations addressed to me. That’s why we are going to tell everyone the truth. The state did what it could so. What can I do? Now will they hold protests all day and put the blame on me?
– Do you mean the parent who said, “come talk to you so you could lie to me again?”
– Yes, that’s what I mean. Let the God punish me for lying and forgive her for blaming me. They are parents’ who suffered. So they can say whatever they want. But if I start to think and act like them, it’s going to be disastrous. Among the complaining parents there are people, who tell me, “Dear sir, let’s talk the truth. I understand my son was killed. I understand we can’t bring him back. How about I get the chance to get into a black Volga?” What can I say? Now go and think about that. And if you don’t give him a black Volga he complains. Yes there are such parents too.
– I am sorry but it’s really hard to believe that.
– I swear, there are parents like that as well. What can I say? I can go public and tell him or her, “you are this person.” But I cannot do such a thing, but during the upcoming discussion I am going to say everything to their faces and finish all this up. The army is not kindergarten, the boys in the arms of the earth, all armed to the army command of the situation, and crime dropped significantly and we are fighting against crimes. We are fighting against crime unlike various Helsinki spotted organizations, aimed at destroying the country and different sects which the country is full of, and if they are unreasonable people, let them stream their imagined country not a country we have built this country, We won this war at the expense of our friends’ blood and we are not going to tolerate the capricious campaign of various NGOs. I’d like you to understand that the army is not kindergarten, and parents do not send their children to the army, so that the latter stay in the cotton. In this army we include people born with all its positive and negative phenomena. Help us manage the bad aspects. We mostly succeed in correcting what’s best but if something wrong happens, then, sorry, you should blame yourselves for the 18-year-old bad upbringing. I am astonished by the fact that the parents of the killer and the victim stand next to each other and complain side by side against the men are unaware of each other and then, when I say that you complain that your next-door the child to kill your child, wonder how they say it seems as though that organized the protest at what they do not understand that their actions lead to. When they are engaged into these organized actions don’t they understand that they are instigated by a couple of sloppy kids, who came over from the States and know nothing about patriotism or the value of army? That’s a kid that never served the army and has got nothing to do with the pain of parents. In their upbringing they don’t value the concept of state. No they are sectarians and their souls are rotten and they are foreigners with their behavior and attitude. They are Europeans. They are the guys with forks. It’s no good that we mix the wet with dry. It’s no good that the protesters complain the ones that work and join the ones that don’t. How can I help but say that these are fake justice supporters. If you bring one example that had been able to do more than us, who devoured blood I got nothing to say let their son should deserve that. But let the Lord forgive them for their sins, as they are lost they do not understand what to do when it’s unfair to blame the investigators who work well. What can they demand and from whom later? These people work day and night.
– Why doesn’t the head of the main regiment of the Armed Forces, who is responsible for the discipline in the army, ever go out to meet with the parents?
– We are all responsible for the incidents in the army. As of the head of the main regiment, then I know that you interviewed him recently and so you should have addressed that question to him. I am ready to come out every time and every time "eat" those accusations. The most important thing is that I know that I am clean and my conscience and soul in peace. I do not have a problem. I am also injured and I suffer when my army does, when my soldier is killed. My tactic also suffers and there is division when incidents like that occur in the army. For example, they complain that some official said that their son died at 5 but she claims that she spoke to the son at 6. But that official means that the incident took place around 5 o’clock. Surprisingly it could become a serious problem that parents say. Why would we base on the ignorance of this or other person? There are concrete bodies that can provide concrete answers. Why don’t they apply to them? Of course, we have defects but it doesn’t mean that we are so flawed that can present murder as a suicide. May the Lord give them their righteousness, our righteousness. We cannot atone such people, because such people make the misfortune of others in achieving their political goals and they are not worth forgiveness. If one thinks of that the army has adopted a similar position to protect themselves then they must be sadly mistaken. We protect the country, and we are ready for it. The army staff is the best part of our society. There are people who are these "no war, no peace "country, or rather, the military situation in the country for consciously choosing the path, because tomorrow the country may be at war. And the officers that we currently have are going to be the ones to protect this country. They could have picker a softer profession too. You cannot break these people or criticize them. None of the criticizers will go to war or let their children go to war to protect the state. These people are orphans in this society and I consider everyone orphan, who portrays everything in this country on dark colors. They are orphans; they don’t have a fatherland and are looking for a place to settle down. They are the merchant type for this country. No one is going to tolerate them and whatever is taking place is not going to be long tolerated. This is our fatherland. And God sees that everyone, who mixes the wet and dry, will be punished here. This is our fatherland. I am repeating once again that the worm that exists in this society by trying to instigate and provoke people, is a foreigner to this country, a tourist. They can only run to different countries to study and during that period become agents for different agencies. They get back to our country, organize all kinds of rallies and get back to these countries. They are secret agents. And some Helsinki organizations go to Georgia and walk in various international organizations for months and return to Armenia to hold and organize rallies. And now we will be the ones not to be silent. And it’s going to be just and fair. We are going to cure them and bring them to their soil. They are trying to grab grants by such means. You can’t be so European.