ArmInfo.Students protesting against the draft law "On Military Service and the Status of Servicemen" decided to continue the struggle following the meeting of Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan. According to the coordinator of the group "For the Development of Science" David Petrosyan, on the issue of deferment from the army, the parties did not come to a common denominator.
Petrosyan stated that the meeting with the prime minister did not correspond to the agreed format - in addition to Karen Karapetyan, the ministers of education and science Levon Mkrtchyan and defense Vigen Sargsyan attended the meeting. In the meantime, as they indicated, on the eve the representatives of these ministries declared that they had nothing more to discuss.
"The Prime Minister invited us to present our requirements regarding the law after its adoption in the National Assembly," Petrosyan said. Meanwhile, according to students, proposals should be considered in advance and immediately included in the final bill. As a result, the students decided to continue the strike. "Tomorrow morning, at 9:30, in the courtyard of Yerevan State University, we continue the protests," they announced.
The third day in a row the students of Yerevan State University continue their strike in protest against the bill on the abolition of the postponement of compulsory military service. The students intend to continue the protests until the bill (on October 27 the National Assembly of Armenia adopted it in the first reading) will not be removed from the agenda. They believe that the adoption of this bill will seriously damage the system and the quality of higher education in Armenia. Participants of the action also assured that many teachers support their position, however, the university administration exerts pressure on them.
It should be noted that the draft law on the abolition of the deferment of compulsory military service, calls for the recruitment of all young people who have reached the age of 18 and have no health problems incompatible with service in the Armed Forces. On the eve of the press-secretary of the ruling Republican Party Eduard Sharmazanov, following the results of the meeting of the RPA Executive Body, said that the authorities do not intend to reconsider their position on this issue because of strikes by students.
According to the information available to ArmInfo, the National Security Service is closely following the situation, in particular, analyzing the possibilities for increasing the protest wave. Analysts of the National Security Service, however, considered such a possibility small, suggesting that protest actions will in time dwindle by themselves, if not to block obstacles to their implementation. According to SNSS analysts, obstacles, on the contrary, will be spurred by a wave of protest.