Vigen Sargsyan: Army is not the mirror of society
On January 27, Armenia’s Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan summed up his 118 days in office. Speaking about attitudes towards the army, the minister said they would do everything to build respect towards the military and to return the profession its former attractiveness. Mr Sargsyan said in 2017 the ministry does not foresee an increase in the salaries of servicemen. “An officer receives more money than someone who has earned diploma with honours from the most prestigious faculties, for example, the Faculty of Law or International Relations. But in this case, we should take into consideration the working conditions and workload of an officer,” he stressed in his speech. Speaking about the soldier who committed suicide in a military unit stationed in Tavush marz, Vigen Sargsyan said they are saddened and worried to receive news about army incidents: families entrust their children to the army, and the army should be responsible for the physical and mental conditions of soldiers. “We are trying to understand the reasons [for the suicide]. I want to inform you that there have been no violations of norms. We shall follow the investigation of each and every case. It would be great if we could exclude suicides [in the ranks] but unfortunately the problem exists not only in the army but also outside it. People resort to it as a solution to problems. It's a huge pain for us, but after studying the statistics you can see that the cases [of suicide] in the same age groups are four times less in the military than elsewhere. Yet, it does not mean that we should not take any measures. The work with psychologists gives results in the army. I would not say that the army is the mirror of society but we have numerous tools which help the army to become the smithy of building society,” the minister said.
