Armenian premier on tasks assigned to army

ArmInfo. "Why did I recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan? In order to recognize the territorial integrity of Armenia. There is no other way," said RA  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on September 15 at the opening of the  international conference "Comprehensive Security and Confrontation -  2025" in Yerevan.

According to him, it is the policy based on the "strategy of  legitimacy", taken as a basis by the RA authorities after May 2021  and September 2022, when Armenia tried in vain to "reach out" to its  CSTO partners, that is capable of ensuring the protection of the  territorial integrity of the RA and the implementation of the peace  agenda.

This strategy was further strengthened after the adoption of the  document, in his words - the regulation . The document was signed and ratified by the two  countries, he emphasized. And the document is underestimated because  it is the first of its kind - one that has legal force.

The Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations  between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan,  initialed on August 8 in Washington, as well as the signed joint  declaration on the peaceful settlement of the conflict, also  strengthened the , he continued.

"What we do in the external environment is exclusively related to the  security strategy," Nikol Pashinyan said.

According to him, the strategy of legitimacy is also important for  army reforms. "We have always said that we need a strong army, but  this is also one of the questions we need to ask ourselves: what does  a strong army mean, stronger than whom? Stronger than one  hypothetical enemy, two hypothetical enemies, three or four? And what  will be our reaction if it turns out that the hypothetical enemy has  3-4 more super-strong parties involved on its side? Are our  strategies worthless?

And by a strong army do we mean the presence or absence of strong  allies? If with them, then dozens of questions arise here too.  Therefore, there is a vital need to clarify the concepts," the Prime  Minister said.

And one of the most important tasks is what tasks the state sets for  the army.

"Here is our next strategic reformulation, which sounds like this:  'The Armenian army has no tasks and goals outside the internationally  recognized territory of Armenia, the task of the army is to ensure  the defense of the internationally recognized territory of Armenia."

This strategy of legitimacy has yielded unimaginable results in just  2-3 years. For example, previously the arms procurement markets for  Armenia were very limited, now they are virtually unlimited. These  restrictions were eliminated thanks to the strategy of legitimacy,"  Nikol Pashinyan said. According to the Prime Minister, if the number  one security instrument of the state is the army, this means that it  has no security.