Priority Given Not to Combat Soldiers, but to Officials in Warm Offices: Gorgisyan

Recently, I and my colleagues have been alerted that combat contract soldiers have received only 4,000 drams as a bonus. This was reported by Gevorg Gorgisyan, a member of the National Assembly's 'Enlightened Armenia' faction on his Facebook page.

"Let me remind you that the Armenian government, at the highest level, speaks at every opportunity about not confusing priorities, while simultaneously emphasizing that the priority is given to the country's security and army.

I should note that in this regard, the Armenian Ministry of Defense has also issued a statement, which particularly mentions: 'According to Article 22, Clause 3 of the Law on the Remuneration of Officials of the Republic of Armenia, the reward fund for each body is formed from the annual salary fund appropriated from the state budget for that body. By the relevant order of the Minister of Defense of Armenia, a reward fund has been established in the armed forces for the purpose of rewarding military personnel with a one-time payment, and it has been allocated to military units. Based on the results of the academic year, according to the provisions of the Law on the Disciplinary Code, the best military personnel have been rewarded during the year.'

According to Clause 9 of the same article of the Law on the Remuneration of Officials, military personnel can also be rewarded from the saved funds of the annual salary fund, according to which, based on the quantitative proportion of the most outstanding military personnel, these remunerations have been carried out.

It turns out that priority is given to officials working in their warm offices, receiving bonuses of several hundred thousand drams, rather than to combat soldiers and their families, who truly deserve encouragement and rewards. Is this how we evaluate priorities, gentlemen?" Gorgisyan noted.