Allow People to Participate in Practical Self-Defense Courses Regularly: Hakob Karapetyan

“I am about to turn 40 soon (if luck is on my side). I was discharged from the army in 2006, about 16 years ago. During my service, I fired without exaggeration, a couple dozen (no more than one magazine) AK bullets. I was the commander of a 120mm mortar and during my entire service, I fired one (1) shell.

In the 16 years following my service, I have NEVER been invited to any gathering or exercise, meaning I have never had the opportunity to refresh or develop my limited knowledge. This, of course, is despite the fact that every time I changed my place of residence, I went to the military commissariat and requested to register my updated address so that there would be no unnecessary complications.

This is, of course, something I would never have written in public before the war. Although I am sure that those who needed to know were aware of this, now hiding it is even more pointless.

Hakob Karapetyan, the spokesperson for the Yerevan Municipality, wrote about this on his Facebook page. Now we know that we have problems related to the regular army; we want to hit our heads against the wall in despair over what is happening in Artsakh. What to do? We do not have the ally we dream of, we do not have nuclear weapons, we do not have a magic wand.

We can place our hopes on a few dozen enthusiasts who are currently organizing weapon handling courses with varying degrees of effectiveness. But a few dozen, even a few hundred enthusiasts will not solve the problem.

Brothers and sisters, you who adhere to nihilism, and you who adhere to everythingism, let’s think at the state level about having an effective national self-defense system. Allow people to participate in practical self-defense courses regularly, either free of charge or under affordable conditions.

Create mechanisms for state and community organizations, and large companies providing public services to organize courses for ALL employees regardless of gender and age. Grant us the opportunity for public self-defense. Or begin negotiations with the global community on the possibility of collectively moving to Niue,” wrote Karapetyan.