Ruling party PM plans to reintroduce a bill reducing military service

ArmInfo. Hayk Sargsyan, a parliament member from the ruling Civil Contract party, intends to reintroduce a bill  that would reduce the mandatory military service from two years to one and a half years. The MP made this announcement  today, September 30, in a conversation with journalists at the  Armenian parliament.

He noted that he had made revisions to the bill and had sent it back  to his colleagues in parliament, specifically to members of the  ruling party. According to him,, no one has suggested any changes to  the bill for several months, and it has been approved. However, the  MP recalled that the bill had previously been rejected because  opposition MPs voted against the amendments, and Civil Contract MP  Andranik Kocharyan had abstained from voting.

Regarding his proposed amendments, specifically the ban on renouncing  citizenship before the age of 18, Sargsyan cited statistics showing  that 7% of male conscripts from the most recent conscription had  renounced their Armenian citizenship before becoming adults. Sargsyan  is confident that if the bill is not reconsidered, the consequences  of this situation will become evident in August.

The MP also explained his plans to address the issue of reducing the  number of conscripts by shortening the length of military service.   He also responded to criticism that the draft law favors  wealthy  individuals (under the draft law, one can buy oneself out of  mandatory military service for a certain amount - ed.).

The MP believes that there are several other factors contributing to  the decline in the number of conscripts.  Hayk Sargsyan acknowledged  that it is mainly children from wealthy families who study abroad. He  also mentioned the reduced length of military service in other  countries as another reason for the reduction.  Particularly, he  cited the examples of Georgia (1 year) and Azerbaijan (1.5 years).

The MP, however, disagreed with the view that all of these changes,   particularly the reduction in the length of mandatory military  service in Armenia, are taking place against the backdrop of  Azerbaijan's increasing military spending. Sargsyan believes that  each country has its own policy in this area and is pursuing its own  path to solving its own problems. The MP called savings on the  military necessary for the Armenian side. Sargsyan believes that all  expenditures can be made at below-market rates,  allowing for more  efficient use of the state budget.