Video: Gegham Jan, I Apologize, I Was Touched When You Said, 'Do Not Say That I Lost a Son': Vigen Khachatryan

The state's care for parents and the necessary respectful attitude must be guaranteed, but equally, we must understand that we are dealing with a constitutional provision according to which every citizen is obliged to participate in the defense of the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the law. This was stated today, on March 4, by Vigen Khachatryan, a member of the 'Civil Contract' faction, during the discussion of the draft law on amendments and additions to the law on 'Military Service and the Status of Military Personnel' at the National Assembly.

'From this follows that the state is obliged to prepare each citizen for that participation. How this is done, we need to discuss, and in this regard, this draft law has serious gaps. I have refrained from citing or countering my colleagues, but no one is giving their son to the army. We should avoid that term; a person goes to fulfill their duty in front of the homeland. I must apologize to Gegham Nazaryan, who has suffered that loss, and I will never allow myself to show disrespect toward him, who proudly said at one of the rallies, 'My grief is great, but do not say that we have lost a son.' I was very upset by that statement; the person proudly said his son fulfilled his duty, do not accept that I lost a son. Forgive me, Gegham Jan, but here a serious civil feeling spoke in a person. Therefore, we should not view the army as a source of grief and think about how to prevent a second grief for the sake of easing the suffering.

Let’s treat those who fulfill their duty to the state with respect and not deprive them of that opportunity. Let’s not consider that a person is going to serve in the army,' he said.

Vigen Khachatryan emphasized that the law has serious gaps in this regard: 'Fine, let us accept it in the first reading, although I initially did not want to vote for the first reading, but on the condition that it must be seriously changed. We are making a methodological error; the army must equally be a sanctity for us, the army should not be viewed as a source of grief or dying,' he said.

It should be noted that the MP from the Civil Contract party, Hayk Sargsyan, suggests in his authored draft to exempt all brothers of servicemen killed in military operations from service in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.