Arrests in Armenian army expose crisis of betrayal and corruption

By Elnur Enveroglu

It is an undeniable fact that Armenia's military budget is growing rapidly year after year despite a huge reluctance to serve in the military among the Armenian community. Considering that this is largely due to foreign support, it can be concluded that the country is simply being provoked into war.

Although the 1990s, that is, the period of the First Garabagh War, is considered a period of fluke for Armenia, time and circumstances played a paramount role here. In fact, Armenia at that time had neither combat experience nor a proper military strategic plan, except what was left from the former Soviet Army. A group of Armenian separatist military units, which were used as a mere element to wage the war, were executing orders from foreign forces designing evil plans for the South Caucasus. Because the battles were not fought over the concept of homeland, but for the sake of occupation and long-term conflict subjects.

It is an extraordinary result in world practice that a state that had been under Soviet rule for 70 years was able to restore its sovereignty within 30 years fully. Armenia had to give the occupied territories back without reservation or conditions and accepted them as a reality; although this did not sound convincing in words, it remained in the memory as a great historical moment, as Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said: Garabagh is Azerbaijan.

The outcome of the Second Garabagh War is interpreted as a humiliating defeat of the Armenian army, but there are also some behind-the-scenes moments, such that today Yerevan is putting its “heroes” who caused that bitter defeat in the dock. The content, however, does not change – Yerevan recognizes the sovereignty of the country it occupies, but at the same time arrests those who betrayed the occupation policy.

Although the information about the sudden arrest of a senior Armenian military officer, Major General Tiran Kachatryan in the Armenian press and social media is not surprising, the statement about his detention has attracted considerable attention as well as spilled the beans about the crooks in the army structure.

"The negligent attitude of the former high-ranking official of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia to the performance of his official duties during martial law entailed serious consequences.

In particular, the actions of the latter led to the failure of the defense of the army line of the Armed Forces, undermined the troop command and control system, were unable to fulfill the assigned combat mission, as a result of which the enemy took advantage of the situation and unhinderedly captured the strategic heights, broke through the existing line, in another case bypassed its own units and, developing the attack, took control of the territories entrusted to the security of the group,” it says in the statement.

Could the Armenian army have won if they had focused all their attention? It's an interesting question, but the answer is obvious - No.

As for Khachatryan's arrest, other comments also emphasize that he was accused of corruption. The question arises as to whether this is the first time that Armenia has revealed a corruption case in its army. It is not worth talking about the state of the army of a country under the rule of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, especially the army under Seyran Ohanyan’s commandership. The fact that the Armenian army was able to escape with only defeat in the Second Garabagh War should have been celebrated as a solemn holiday in Yerevan every year on November 10. Because the legacy left by the former masters of corruption created such a situation that trust in the military in the country had reached zero. Every year, increasing suicides and desertions in the Armenian army became daily news. The bodies of soldiers chained to military vehicles during the Second Garabagh War were a testament to the state of affairs in the army. A soldier who was forcibly thrown in front of a shell on the territory of another state can respect neither his general nor the leadership of his country.

It's a good thing that generals who turn soldiers' underwear and food into a source of profit are not executed in Armenia, otherwise not a single high-ranking officer in the army would have survived.

Recall the fact that during the years when Ohanyan led the Armenian army, there were more cases of mass corruption, brutal dedovshchina (hazing and abuse), and crimes. “Thief with code” laws were introduced to the Armenian army during Ohanyan's time. Seyran himself sat at the top of the corruption pyramid, so there was no one to fight against these villains in some form. Seyran led his entourage to privatize the territories belonging to the military units for a penny and then sell them at the market price. Some 80 percent of the bribes from tenders reached Seyran and he was able to share.

Looking at all this, it is clear from the results that the Armenian army is unlikely to recover shortly from the psychological trauma it has suffered. A soldier whose underwear has been stolen will neither have the confidence nor the courage to respond to his "enemy."