Armenian opposition MP sees new army reform as absurd

Opposition MP Tigran Abrahamyan has described as absurd army reform announced in Armenia.

He made the remarks in an interview with the Armenian media, Caliber.Az reports.

According to Armenia's defence minister, reforms will be implemented in the army, as a result of which the armed forces will be involved in the country's defence, combat training, and other duties.

"The defence minister is still unaware that the General Staff of the Armed Forces was in charge of tasks related to troop combat capability and combat training prior to the 'reform' indicated by him," the opposition MP said.

He recalled that the authorities decided to give the chief of the General Staff the status of first deputy defence minister.

"Second, the authorities believe that subordinating the head of the General Staff to the defence minister will prevent disobedience, as happened with the former head of the General Staff, Onik Gasparyan.

According to Papikyan, the former chief of the General Staff, who reports to the prime minister, would not have made such statements if he had been appointed as the first deputy defence minister. Absurd.

Third, units in the General Staff and the Defence Ministry perform the same functions; these departments must be reorganised through structural changes, but the Chief of the General Staff should not be the first deputy minister at all. Moreover, it will create big problems.

They claim that the General Staff should deal solely with combat training issues for the Armed Forces, but it is subordinated to the ministry, resulting in complete chaos," the MP wrote.