Pashinyan and Aliyev Against the Armenian Army: Their Visions Align - "168 Hours"

Nikol Pashinyan constantly talks about changing the hostile attitude towards neighbors and promoting peace. At first glance, these innocent and safe statements conceal other goals, which become evident through various spokespeople of the government and other declarations made by Nikol Pashinyan. It is now openly declared that Armenia does not possess an army; it is being discredited and undermined by all possible methods. Subsequently, Pashinyan’s statement about ‘neighbors’ comes to the forefront, suggesting an idea to make military service every five years, lasting only three months.

At first glance, this may seem like pre-election bribery, announcing that if you elect them, your children will no longer serve in the army or will serve very minimally. However, even if this bait is used for electoral purposes, and it will be, this statement has a more far-reaching objective: to dismantle the army completely. In other words, on one hand, it is declared that we have not had an army, while on the other, the intention to eliminate it under the guise of reforms is proclaimed. Here lies the reasoning behind Pashinyan’s statements and the cause-and-effect relationship: he suggests that we need to change our attitude towards enemies to the extent that we have no enemies left. And if there are no enemies, there is also no need for an army.

This is, of course, a simplistic, superficial logic that bears no resemblance to state thinking. However, Nikol Pashinyan, who has never served in the army, has never distinguished himself with profundity or foresight. In the region where Armenia is situated, there are two broad models of existence: creating a powerful security system with modern and combat-ready armed forces to impose peace upon neighborly states with hostile attitudes, and the second model is to surrender, declare that we have no enemies, and abandon the idea of having our own army, thereby relegating security assurance to some third country, currently Russia.

Nikol Pashinyan proposes the second model, which is essentially a model of having neither an army nor a state, since without armed forces or the armed forces proposed by Nikol Pashinyan, the state would be a mere facade, a formality, if it exists at all. Thus, Nikol Pashinyan suggests eliminating the Armenian army under the guise of elegant formulations. Incidentally, although expressed differently, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev speaks consistently with the same content regarding the non-existence of the Armenian army. Their visions regarding the existence, or more accurately, the non-existence of the Armenian army align.

Read the full article in this week's issue of the paper.