The Visit of Serge Sargsyan to Lori Region
00:00, February 12, 2007 | Press Release | Armed Forces
“There is no Corruption in the Armenian National Army”
Today Serge Sargsyan, the minister of defence and the head of the council of Armenian Republican Party, came to Vanadzor. During the meeting, which was held in the office of Lori Regional Council of the Armenian Republican Party, he discussed internal issues of the party.
After an interview on Lori-TV, the minister of defence met with the parents and relatives of soldiers in the Cultural Palace after Charles Aznavour. A painting exhibition entitled “Our Army” was held in one of the halls of the centre. The works of students of public schools and the Art School of Lori Region were shown on occasion of the 15th anniversary of the army. The regional phase of the students’ Chess Olympiad of Lori region was held in this centre, too.
First he offered congratulations on the 15th anniversary of the Armenian army, and then he said that he came to Vanadzor first of all to meet the parents of soldiers in order to listen to the problems they had. “We constantly receive reports from various structures of the ministry and NGO-s with whom we cooperate. They visit military units without encountering any obstacles; they familiarize themselves with the daily life and problems of soldiers. But it is entirely different when we listen to the parents,” said the minister.
The minister expressed a willingness to respond to questions, urged participants to ask questions without hesitation even if the question might seem inappropriate.
Vanadzor citizens had a chance to address the Minster personally in the large hall of the centre, where there were several microphones, or to personally hand their letter to his assistant. In response to the question whether there will be “layoffs” in the army, he said, “no, there will not. Our army is really very big for a country like Armenia in relation to the number of population and its size. But we have to have a large army. We may speak about “reduction” in the army only when we do not have any direct military danger. Maybe the number of recruits will decrease connected with the age. But this won’t reduce the number in the army because we will hire contracted soldiers instead. The army is also a workplace. Today 3,500 women work in the army; furthermore, more than 10 thousand ordinary soldiers are serving on contract.”
Most of the people were concerned about finding a job after being discharged from the army.
“Nowadays the main problem in the country is the lack of work. In regards to Vanadzor, I can repeat what you have already heard from the authorities: that the chemical factory is being restarted. I think that this is the biggest problem to be solved,” said the minister. “When I was here in October 2006, I said that, during my next visit, I would describe the specifics of the reopening of the factory. After the meeting, I gave a report to the president, who was already working on the matter, and this promoted finding new ways. We have found the way. The management of the factory was transferred to the ministry of Energy. We had a similar experience with ‘Nairit’.”
The minister informed that some of the salaries of the employees of the chemical factory had already been paid, some were underway and by May all the debts will have been paid. The minister mentioned concrete terms, according to which, the production of carbide will restart in March of this year with an output of 15,000 tons per year; by the end of the year a second shift will restart with another 15,000.
From May of this year, as the minister mentioned, “The production of corundum will start. By the end of the year it will be at 50% capacity. You know that 80 tons can be produced. By the end of the year we will have 40 tons and next year we will reach the peak.” During April-June the production of ammoniac will be restarted, in May-July the production of melamine with local raw materials of ammoniac will also be restarted. By the end of the year the production of fertilizers with 25 tons per year will be restarted.” The minister was reassuring in this way, at the same time mentioning that “Research is underway concerning other quantities, so that we can know what investments we need to restart the whole factory. I think that the work problem in Vanadzor will be solved partially.”
How appropriate is contracted service and under what terms?
The minister answered in this way: “This is the most fitting, as the person does professional work, so professionalism is very high. But there isn’t professional service in all rich and developed countries. But I don’t think that we will be able to transition to contracted service during the upcoming 10 years, if the size of the army and the problems remains the same. If we are able to neutralize the external dangers on our country and reduce our army to 12-15,000, then it will be possible…”
Speaking about the housing problems of soldiers, Serge Sargsyan stated that this year the housing conditions of the families of 150 victims are planned to be improved. “There are 450 families of soldier victims, this year the conditions of 150 will be improved,” he said. We almost resolved the problem of homeless families of died soldiers. Last year it seemed that we totally solved the problem, but during 2006 we were informed that there are 48 families whose problems should still be solved. This year we are going to solve the housing problems of the families of homeless 2nd degree disabled persons, as well as we should improve the housing conditions of the families of 1st degree disabled. Next year we will work on improving the housing conditions of the families of 2nd degree disabled. This year we will spend 3 billion drams on improvement of housing conditions for 500 families. If we started this process in 1995, a lot would already have been done now. The given money is not always used for buying houses, this is connected with, for instance, disagreements within the family.”
The minister rejected that some privileges for the families of died soldiers had been abolished. Serge Sargsyan answered different questions of those who had problems, and promised to look through their issues and give a relevant solution regarding their requests for appeal.
There were many people who thanked the minister and expressed their satisfaction on the improvement of order in the army and careful treatment of soldiers. Governor Aram Kocharyan and mayor Samvel Darbinyan promised to take up the problems that were connected with regional and local authorities. The next destination of the minister was the Mountain training centre. Here he walked around in the military unit, followed the training process, after that he met with the representatives of NGOs in the auditorium of the new building of the military unit. The minister answered various questions of NGO representatives. Armen Matinyan, the head of the NGO “Nor Serund” asked, “Do you think that cooperation between youth organizations and the army – the biggest youth organization – is possible.” The minister attached importance to cooperation between the civil sector and the army. He pointed out that there will be no obstacle for educational-cultural projects of NGO-s. It is necessary to make arrangements with the directorate of the military unit. “It is different when an officer tells something to the soldier, and when somebody of the soldier’s age tells them something. Besides, the officer is busy from morning to evening. In the army you have to do the same thing every day. 20% of our recruits, unfortunately, are of the opinion that these two years of the service are taken from their life. You will also reinforce that they must realize that it is their duty towards their fatherland. We cooperate with more than 30 organizations,” said S. Sargsyan. The army is closed for campaigns of different political parties. Firstly, because the army is not affiliated with any one political party, and participates only in the proportional voting and then the soldiers can get familiar with the programs of political parties from the press (in every military unit they have such opportunities), and TV. Sargsyan considered direct meetings impossible and wrong. He said that it is not purposeful to organize meetings with a small number of soldiers as others are in the front-lines.
In answer to the question of Arthur Sakunts, the coordinator of HCA Vanadzor, on cases of murders and corruption in the army, S. Sargsyan mentioned that cases of deaths in the army are decreasing. The 33 cases of last year have been examined by relevant structures. The minister did not reject cases of abuse of position by careless commanders. Anyhow, he added that there was no corruption in the army. He mentioned that civil control over the recruitment process is sufficient: in the medical commissions the doctors are not military, local authorities have control, and regional administrations are also responsible for that process. The chairman of the regional recruitment process is never a military, it is the governor. “I am the first interested person who does not want sick people to go to the army. The sick soldier is a problem not only during military actions. We’d better accept a contracted soldier instead. Besides, the commissariat recruiting a sick pays the cost of the clothes and shoes that the state spent on them. If this is repeated several times then there will be dismissal from work.” According to the minister, political parties are more corrupted. “Can you tell what parties live on only membership fees?”
At the end of the day Serge Sargsyan, the minister of defence, and the officers accompanying him and the officials left for Yerevan.
February 8, ARMENPRESS (correspondent: Vahagn Antonyan)