Pashinyan congratulates Armenian Armed Forces

ArmInfo.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated the country's Armed Forces on their 34th anniversary, using "hackneyed phrases" about reforms, peace with Azerbaijan, enhancing the country's defense capability, and the ineffectiveness of the CSTO.

Pashinyan's message, published by his press service, noted that the Armenian military had gone through a difficult period of formation, facing challenges and hardships, but today it can be said with confidence that the country has a military that is  evolving, with defensive capabilities increasing every day.

He assured that in recent years, the Armenian authorities have  made significant investments and carried out  major reforms in the army, acquiring a vast amount of modern weapons and military equipment of a quality and specifications that the army has never had before.

"Significant financial resources have been invested in this, as the acquired equipment is expensive and substantial in quantity. Hoever,  a very important question must also  be addressed: why was the same not done in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022? Nearly all of our international partners, potentially capable of selling weapons and equipment,  were politely refusing to sell arms to the Republic of Armenia, citing two main reasons: they were not confident  that these weapons would not be deployed outside the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia; and they were not confident  that the classified specifications  of these weapons would  remain secure from the CSTO,  to which Armenia's membership a was also an obstacle in concluding such deals," Pashinyan said.

The head of the Armenian government added that, as of September 2022, CSTO partners were refusing to fulfill their contractual obligations to the Armenian side to guarantee Armenia's security and territorial integrity. According to him, they were also refusing to supply hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of weapons and equipment for which the Republic of Armenia had already made payments.

"This was an existential threat to the Republic of Armenia, and it was clear that a decision had been made to eliminate our statehood and annul our sovereignty. This fatal danger was overcome as a result of two decisive developments: the political agreement reached in Prague on October 6, 2022, in a quadripartite format, under which the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan recognized each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, and the freezing of Armenia's membership in the CSTO," the head of the Armenian government stated.

Pashinyan emphasized that the Armenian authorities will consistently continue this strategy. He added that the Armenian army has no other mission and will have no mission beyond  protecting its internationally recognized territory of 29,743 square kilometers, except for  participating in peacekeeping missions based on international treaties. "Regarding the occupied territories of the Republic of Armenia, the resolution of this issue, outlined in the regulations for the joint activities of the Armenian and Azerbaijani delimitation commissions, already has the highest legal force in both countries, and the issue will be resolved during the delimitation process," he continued.

Regarding the reduction of military service term in the Armenian Armed Forces, Pashinyan assured that reducing the length of compulsory military service to 18 months significantly improves the conditions of compulsory military service.

“Large-scale fortification work is underway along our borders, introducing new developments to our defense system. The format of this message  does not allow me to go into further details, but what has been implemented in the army in recent years is a cornerstone of the resilience, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of our  borders. But I also want to emphasize that we are not preparing for war, because there will be no war. Peace has been established between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and there is no more reliable guarantee of security than peace. We will  continue to strengthen this most reliable guarantee of security.

The development of the army will continue, because the army is one of the most important institutions of the state. It is crucial to have a strong, defensible army capable  to withstand potential future threats, in cases where diplomacy proves insufficient. A country without a strong army is vulnerable and can become a target for aggression. The Republic of Armenia must never be such a country,” Pashinyan concluded.