Andranik Kocharyan's Actions Endanger Our State's Security, Ministry of Defense Issues Decision

The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia has once again addressed the statements made by Andranik Kocharyan, a member of the National Assembly and head of the Defense and Security Committee from the 'My Step' faction.

The full statement from the Ministry of Defense is as follows:

“With an inexplicable consistency and determination, Andranik Kocharyan, the head of the National Assembly’s Permanent Committee on Defense and Security, continues his absolutely unfounded and blatantly ignorant attacks on the Armenian army and various issues related to the actions of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces during the war, some of which, by the way, are classified.

Unfortunately, we have already had several occasions to refer to Mr. Kocharyan's public statements, in which he uses expressions that are absolutely inappropriate and unacceptable for a public official holding a high state position, such as ‘there is almost no army left, but these are armed people’, ‘the non-flying commander of the Air Force’, or ‘fisherman uniform’. Instead of drawing necessary conclusions and apologizing for the extremely offensive remarks directed at the army, the soldier, the officer, and the many civilian servicemen of the Ministry of Defense, Mr. Kocharyan continues his evidently targeted campaign.

In particular, Mr. Kocharyan, in an interview with one of the media outlets the day before, responding to the reporter's question, ‘It seems like you want to make David Tonoyan a scapegoat; what is Tonoyan guilty of?’, literally answers as follows: ‘But who says David Tonoyan is guilty? There are different levels of guilt. David Tonoyan is guilty because he is the Minister of Defense; now no one is guilty? Isn’t David Tonoyan guilty? Aren’t other ministers guilty?’ This means that Mr. Kocharyan acknowledges he has no real basis for accusing the Minister of Defense and that his entire campaign is based solely on the belief that if something has happened, then someone must be guilty.

If the author of this statement were an ordinary person, everything would be understandable and comprehensible. But when all this comes from the lips of an official holding the position of head of the National Assembly’s Permanent Committee on Defense and Security, it raises obvious bewilderment.

Moreover, Mr. Kocharyan's actions pose real dangers and cause serious concern. For example, sensitive inquiries regarding the Su-30SM aircraft during the war should have been discussed behind closed doors with the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan, rather than being publicly aired by Mr. Kocharyan, wherein the answers, in this case, are classified. The same goes for the RE electronic warfare measures he mentioned.

Isn’t this the clearest evidence of an official not being in his place and lacking mastery over his area? What does Andranik Kocharyan expect by voicing inquiries to which the answers are classified? Is this a trivial and cheap exploitation or at the very least an absolutely unacceptable provocation to force the defense ministry to disclose information that is beneficial solely to the enemy?

What objectives does Andranik Kocharyan pursue by consistently making offensive statements about the entire army, which is, by the way, currently addressing extremely important issues related to the restoration of forces and resources, reorganization, creating new infrastructures, raising combat readiness to a new level, etc.?

The Ministry of Defense, soberly and thoroughly analyzing all of Andranik Kocharyan’s recent public statements, gradually concludes that this official does not have a proper grasp of the area under his coordination in the parliament, lacks sufficient knowledge of the defense system, does not understand the limits of state secrets and the resulting restrictions, and is taking actions that, fundamentally, put our state’s security at risk.

Therefore, the Ministry of Defense is considering the possibility of requesting the National Assembly Speaker to review the appropriateness of Andranik Kocharyan's tenure as head of the National Assembly’s Permanent Committee on Defense and Security, as well as the opportunity to address the National Assembly’s Ethics Commission regarding his obviously offensive public statements.