YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with recently demobilized soldiers who had demonstrated dedication and courage during their military service at “Mountainous Armenia” resort in Dilijan on January 20. Majority of the ex-soldiers have participated in the military operations defending their Fatherland from the adversary’s invasion. Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Movses Hakobyan attended the meeting.

As “Armenpress” was informed from the press service of the Armenian President’s Office, the President greeted the participants of the meeting, thanked for their good service and addressed his speech not only to those present but also to all the demobilized soldiers. Noting that the period of the service of our soldiers coincided with the period when they had to withstand the enemy’s onslaught last year, the President stressed that they fulfilled their task with honor and stated that they remain the soldiers of the Fatherland even after the demobilization irrespective of the sphere of their future activities.  

“Of course, we miss and are proud of our friends who fell heroically. We are also proud of our friends who heroically fought and remained alive and will continue their sacred service for the Fatherland. I asked the Defense Minister to organize this meeting because I always enjoy talking to servicemen, but they are a bit restrained during the service because of two factors. I think one of the factors is that they do not want to voice about problems and difficulties not to look like a lachrymose or querulous boy, so as not to create an impression that they need good conditions for serving their Fatherland. But of course, there is also the second factor, which is a soldier always has the fear that if he raises a problem, his supervisor may not like it. I think today we should have a sincere conversation, discussion, to understand the advantages of our army, the positive sides of our military service and what we have achieved. We have to openly speak about the problems needing a solution in the future for making our army more combat-ready, since we are forced to have a combat-ready army. All nations need armies, but there are cases when this need becomes a vital necessity. A combat-ready army is a vital importance for us”, the President of the Republic said.

Offering to have a sincere conversation Serzh Sargsyan noted that he also would like to listen to the opinion of the guardians of the Fatherland over the existing problems and the development of the country in general.

The demobilized soldiers asked the President questions about the prospects of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process, the greatest achievement of the 25-year old Armenian army, the role of the demobilized soldiers in the implementation of the “nation-army” concept introduced by the Defense Minister, the response of the Armenian side to the arms-race unleashed by Azerbaijan and some other social issues.

The ex-soldiers also answered the President’s questions, presenting their opinions on how to improve military service, what should be changed, what problems they can see, what gave military service to them, was the knowledge gained during the service enough to effectively participate in the military operations, and a number of other issues.

Based on the meeting, the President also issued a number of instructions to the Defense Ministry, which referred to raising safety during service, ideological education of the soldiers, organization of free time activities, training of specialists in parallel with obtaining new armaments, continuation of works with the Ministry of Education and sciences aimed at subsidizing the tuition fee of soldiers involved in combat duty.