Defense Ministry Does Not Recognize Some Officers as Participants of Military Operations

The Ministry of Defense does not recognize certain officers as participants in military operations to avoid paying them the one-time bonus intended for those who have participated in combat actions, reports Hraparak.am.

It should be noted that we previously wrote that in the military service records of conscripts who participated in the war, as was the case after the four-day war in 2016, this aspect is still not indicated now, so that after demobilization, people cannot benefit from a 100% discount on tuition fees.

In a conversation with us, Lieutenant Khana Mir Abrahamyan mentioned that they served in an ammunition depot that was bombed by the enemy's aviation, yet the Ministry of Defense does not recognize them as participants in military operations. “I ask the Ministry of Defense to recognize me as a participant in military operations and to pay me the compensation calculated based on my participation in combat actions, and not just whatever they choose to do. Our greatest problem is that we have gone through those services, and it is very incomprehensible to me... I don’t want to hold protests or rallies; I have written to them, and I know that I will not get a response. They will write something foolish, and if they write that foolishness, I will definitely start a legal process. And I’m not alone; besides our 12 people, there are about 50 more who share the same plight. The problem is that it is offensive for me to have gone through all this, yet they are doing nothing today,” said the serviceman.

This means that, according to the documents, you haven't even served in Artsakh, we asked. “Yes, if I hadn’t constantly harassed those people, if I hadn’t said that I would file a complaint, they wouldn’t have done anything. We were just lucky that 2-3 times they did have official registrations, and we found those lists and told them that they are obliged to register us based on that; otherwise, they absolutely didn’t want to give any form,” Lieutenant Abrahamyan replied. He also stated that if recognized as a participant in military operations, the one-time payment he is entitled to, according to his calculations, would amount to about 450,000 drams.

“They claim that they will pay me about 100,000 drams, but up to now, they haven’t paid. If they recognize me as a participant in military operations, the payment will be approximately 450,000. I will receive that money and I will send it to my friends in Artsakh. This is a one-time payment meant as a kind of salary for participation in military actions, akin to a service fee. Until now, I have not been able to obtain the calculation procedure for this service fee; when you ask about it, they say it’s a military secret, and they do not provide that procedure, but I have seen my friends from various units and have a rough idea of how to calculate it. There are about 50 others like me who are also not recognized as participants in combat operations,” he added.