49 Military Deaths Reported in Armenia and Artsakh in 2019, Including 14 Conscripts and 22 Contract Soldiers

During 2019, the number of military personnel deaths in the armed forces of Armenia and Artsakh decreased by 22 percent. Gor Abrahamyan, advisor to the Prosecutor General of Armenia, reported this on his Facebook page.

He specifically noted: “In the armed forces of Armenia and the Artsakh Defense Army, 49 military personnel deaths were recorded in 2019, of which 14 were conscripts, 22 were contract soldiers, 5 were junior officers, and 8 were senior officers. Of the 49 military personnel, 20 deaths were associated with military service, while 29 occurred in circumstances unrelated to military service.”

Deaths associated with military service, categorized by reasons, included:

• 4 as a result of killings by the enemy,
• 7 due to suicides or suicide attempts,
• 1 due to violation of weapons usage regulations,
• 1 due to illness,
• 4 as a result of killings,
• 2 due to accidents,
• 1 due to car accidents related to service.

Meanwhile, the 29 deaths unrelated to military service were categorized as follows:

• 14 due to non-service related car accidents,
• 12 due to illness,
• 3 due to suicide or suicide attempts.

By comparison, in 2018, the armed forces of Armenia and the Artsakh Defense Army reported 63 military personnel deaths, which included 27 conscripts, 23 contract soldiers, 2 junior officers, and 11 senior officers. Out of those, 38 deaths were related to military service, and 25 were due to circumstances unrelated to service.

The 38 deaths related to military service in 2018 were attributed to the following reasons:

• 7 due to killings by the enemy,
• 11 due to suicides or suicide attempts,
• 2 due to violation of weapons usage regulations,
• 3 due to illness,
• 1 due to mine explosion,
• 1 due to killing,
• 3 due to accidents,
• 6 due to service-related car accidents,
• 2 due to violations of combat service rules,
• 2 due to violations in flight operations or preparations.

The reasons for the 25 deaths unrelated to military service included:

• 11 due to non-service related car accidents,
• 10 due to illnesses,
• 4 due to accidents.

The comparative analysis indicates that the number of deaths in the armed forces decreased by 14 overall, or 22 percent, compared to the previous year. There was a sharp decline of 18 deaths, or 47 percent, in deaths directly related to military service.

Notably, the incidents where military personnel were killed by fire originating from violations of the ceasefire regime nearly halved (from 7 to 4) in comparison to 2018, and deaths associated with military service from suicides or suicide attempts decreased by 4, or 36.4 percent. Deaths due to accidents, car accidents, and violations of combat service rules also decreased.

Overall, in recent years, there has been a significant and stable trend of decline in military personnel deaths in the armed forces of Armenia and Artsakh; 76 deaths were recorded in 2017, 63 in 2018, and 49 in 2019, marking a decline of 35.5 percent from 2017.

It is with great sorrow that I publish these figures, regardless of trends, as human life, especially that of military personnel, is not merely a statistic, and even the loss of one military personnel—whether a conscript or a contract soldier, a junior or senior officer—is a tremendous sorrow for all of us. Therefore, I particularly want to express my condolences to the families, relatives, and close friends of those lost.

However, throughout the year and especially now, we receive intense inquiries from media outlets, both written and verbal, logically indicating that regardless of everything, we must also present such data to meet the natural and reasonable demand for public awareness.