"We Are Facing a Serious Challenge" - Pashinyan's Statement

As we reported, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented newly appointed Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan to the staff of the Ministry of Defense and the high command of the Armed Forces. The Prime Minister thanked the former minister Arshak Karapetyan for his work in the defense department and addressed the decision to appoint Suren Papikyan as Minister of Defense.

"Essentially, I have made a politically significant decision, and when I met with Mr. Karapetyan this morning, he made a remark with which I cannot disagree and which I cannot refrain from voicing. He rightly pointed out that the position of Minister of Defense in the Republic of Armenia is perhaps the most vulnerable position or one of the most vulnerable. I want to thank Mr. Karapetyan for taking on the responsibility and courage of that vulnerable position, and at the same time, I want to thank Mr. Papikyan for accepting my decision and for replacing the vice-premier's less vulnerable position with the very vulnerable position of Minister of Defense.

Dear colleagues, esteemed generals and officers, our country is facing serious strategic challenges, and we simply have no right to fail to manage those challenges in accordance with the interests of the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh, and the Armenian people.

You know, there can be many assessments that may be emotional or less emotional, but we must clearly understand one thing: the government of the Republic of Armenia and the country's leadership have a clear vision of what steps are necessary to successfully navigate the country out of this crossroads of strategic challenges and set it on a path of lasting and sustainable development, and we will pursue that path.

I told Mr. Karapetyan this morning that I continue to consider him a teammate. You know that Suren Papikyan is my long-time political ally and companion, and I want to make the following statement once again under this roof: since 2018, after I assumed the office of Prime Minister, there has not been a single case where the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia or the Ministry of Defense put forward a problem that falls within the solvable domain of the government and that problem has not been resolved. This will also be the case going forward; I do not want to say even more, because there has not been less before, but we are faced with a very important and serious challenge, the resolution of which Mr. Karapetyan began, and I am confident that Mr. Papikyan will successfully continue it.

The Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces are our country's largest state organism, and that organism must be healthy, functionally efficient, and decisions must be profound, substantiated, and based on our military and strategic needs. In this respect, I want to highlight precisely this nuance on which we must continue to work,” the Prime Minister stated.