Seyran Ohanyan pointed to actions that negatively affected the combat  capability of the Armenian army

ArmInfo. One of the reasons for the defeat in the 44-day war in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the frequent change of the leadership of the Armed  Forces.  Former Minister of Defense of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan  expressed this opinion in an interview with journalists.

He stated that in recent years there has been a frequent change of  defense ministers and the chief of the General Staff, the command of  the Artsakh Defense Army.

"People, who were not fully in the control of the situation and did  hot have the appropriate experience, having a bad idea of the  military-political situation, most likely made the wrong decisions.  This also applies to the Chief of the General Staff," Ohanyan said,  adding that in the personnel policy of the Ministry of Defense of  Armenia, and Artsakh defense army has formed a tradition according to  which any dismissal is accompanied by a thorough investigation of the  reasons, an internal investigation is carried out. Moreover, the  investigation is carried out by a senior in rank in order to fully  assess the situation.  Ohanyan noted that this tradition was  violated, and all this was not carried out, neither after the  dismissal of the deputy head of the General Staff Tiran Khachatryan,  nor the dismissal of the chief of the General Staff Onik Gasparyan.  "A strikingly low degree of morality - the prime minister himself  introduced Khachatryan to the rank of hero, but dismissed him without  trying to personally find out the details of what happened.  This  caused indignation in the army, in the General Staff. The same  concerns Onik Gasparyan. The prime minister himself introduced him to  the rank and position, then he also rudely dismissed him from his  post.  This is the result of the arbitrariness of one person,  "Ohanyan is convinced.

According to him, the prime minister sent a petition to the  president, who returned it with objections.  "Now they speak by force  of law. The head of state, according to the Constitution, the  president, sends the draft decree and indicates the reasons. Then it  is stated that by force of law a person has been removed from his  post. The whole process in its current form is unacceptable," the  former defense minister said.  At the same time, clarifying whether  the army will gain or lose from these processes, Ohanyan said that he  could not answer this question, since the Armed Forces should carry  out appropriate procedures on this situation. However, in his words,  the Armenian army is the structure that is able to get out of  difficult situations in a short time.  Ohanyan believes that in the  current situation an interdepartmental commission should be created,  which will be able to properly assess the situation, the security  environment and, on the basis of this, develop a concept for the  development of the Armed Forces.  At the same time, he added that  changes may relate to the structure of the Armed Forces and some  types of weapons, however, the foundations for quick action have been  laid and can be implemented in a short time.

Returning to the topic of the reasons for the defeat, the former  minister expressed his conviction that the dismissal of two  high-ranking military personnel hit the army hardest of all: the  former commanders of the Artsakh Defense Army Movses Hakobyan and  Levon Mnatsakanyan.

"Structural changes, the expansion of the central apparatus and the  reduction of some combat units in certain areas also had negative  affect. The person occupying the chair of the prime minister,  dismissing the above-mentioned persons, said that he wants to get rid  of all the "former" ones. The head of government does not understand  that the "former" in military affairs means experience, combat  abilities, worldview, and command of the theater of military  operations. At the same time replacing the minister and the chief of  the General Staff, he created a situation in which persons who do not  know the state of affairs hold both positions. At the same time, the  position of the General Staff is politicized, "Ohanyan summed up,  adding that during his tenure as head of the defense for 8.5 years,  135 employees with the rank of higher than colonel to deputy minister  were dismissed, including because of corruption risks.