Pashinyan's Adventurism with Legal Violations: Ashotyan

On August 17, while summarizing his first 100 days in office, Nikol Pashinyan announced a "unprecedented humanitarian" initiative with Russia. Weeks later, it became clear that this involved sending an Armenian military contingent to Syria. This was reported by Armen Ashotyan, Vice President of the Republican Party of Armenia, on his Facebook page.

He specifically noted:

"This initiative briefly became a topic of discussion among expert circles, while in the political arena, and without sounding immodest, this issue has mainly been raised by me during question-and-answer sessions with Nikol Pashinyan in the National Assembly.

For a long time, there has been no public or political response to the issue, even though it is ongoing and raises serious political and legal questions.

Who needs this initiative?

Nikol Pashinyan avoided directly answering my question in the National Assembly about whose initiative this is—Armenia's or Russia's. Such discussions were also held during our rule, and our Russian counterparts understood and respected our approach, stating that considering the security issues of Armenian communities in the Middle East, it would be appropriate to implement such a program under the mandate of the CSTO, with the involvement of member states.

The Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the issue of sending Armenian armed forces to Syria was raised by the Syrian authorities and the Armenian community in Syria. These claims remain unsubstantiated, as for months no letter or document has been published calling for such action. On the contrary, according to my information, the Aleppo Armenian community is quite pessimistic about this issue, fully aware of all the problems arising, including those related to the safety of the community.

I am more than convinced that the renewal of the initiative was made by Nikol Pashinyan with the primitive calculation of soliciting Moscow's favorable attitude.

Contingent or mission?

There is also a terminological dispute surrounding this issue. Nikol Pashinyan consistently avoids using the terms contingent or armed forces, opting instead for the word mission. During a question I asked in the National Assembly on October 3 last year, Pashinyan responded: "A contingent is not being deployed in Syria; a humanitarian demining and medical mission is being deployed.

With his characteristic wordplay, the Prime Minister sets another trap of confusion for our society, since regardless of the declaration that mainly deminers, doctors, and drivers are involved, if they represent the Armenian Armed Forces, they are in all cases considered military personnel from a military and legal perspective. Moreover, it should be added that presumably soldiers and officers tasked with ensuring the security of the contingent will also be part of the mission.

Why are they disregarding the law?

Regardless of what professions the deployed individuals have—be they doctors, sappers, or drivers—if they are servicemen of the armed forces, they are subject to the law of the Armed Forces of Armenia, which states that they can serve abroad exclusively based on international agreements. This is a very important nuance. The current authorities spare no effort to violate the law on the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, according to which our armed forces can participate in peacekeeping or military operations outside the territory of Armenia only under an international agreement (Article 4, Part 5). No such international agreement is being prepared, and Nikol Pashinyan has ordered this issue to be resolved without a new document. This is not only a legal imperative but also a crucial tool for securing guarantees and protections for our soldiers being sent to Syria. It can be surmised that the initiative to quietly send an Armenian contingent to Syria has the dual purpose of obfuscating the fact and, on the other hand, evading additional attention and criticism from the West.

In summary, we must state that Armenia's foreign policy should be based solely on national interests and should not serve to cater to one person's personal power at the expense of our state, our citizens, and our soldiers.

P.S. For information on all peacekeeping missions that Armenia has participated in up to today, we can refer to the mil.am website. I emphasize that in all cases, they have been organized in accordance with the current legislation.