War is the Continuation of Politics by Other Means: Tiran Khachatryan

It is often said that war is a matter for armed forces, but war is the continuation of politics by other means. This was stated by former Deputy Chief of Staff Tiran Khachatryan during a press conference on security issues.

“Politics takes its course, and the forces conducting the war drive that course. The role of the armed forces or militarized structures in war is only about 12-15%. It would not be entirely correct to address the armed forces without discussing the other supporting or auxiliary forces, how they fulfill their tasks, or how the management system operates to carry this out. The armed forces today are capable of resolving issues in the way they are defined and presented,” Khachatryan explained.

“However, one thing must be considered: before presenting an issue, the proposer or responsible party must understand who they are proposing the issue to and whether they can fulfill it this way. I will repeat, entering into a large-scale war in this situation is absurd; new strategies must be conceived in this regard. However, the armed forces can solve their assigned problems in a localized, specific manner,” Khachatryan said.

According to him, the current government seems to have developed a security strategy, but what kind of strategy is it when the opinions of life-long experts are not included in its toolkit? “The main reason for this is that those who dealt with it are not specialists, or they have taken some ideas out of the air. There is no region or state where a situation is present like ours. Therefore, driving here with this or that model is misguided. To do what, we need to reassess the material and technical base, the personnel, which is crucial, and the finances. Ultimately, we must understand that the situation has changed and the training programs that previously operated need to be reviewed. Have they been reviewed or not?”