Probable Amendments To The Law On Military Service Were Discussed

On December 12th 2008, The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and “Civil Society Institute” NGO (CSI) organized a round-table discussion at CSI office. The topic of the discussion was possible amendments to the Law on military service. The amendments foresee removing the right to academic leave for students during military call-up.

The participants of the round table – discussion were experts, students and representatives of governmental bodies, nongovernmental organizations and media. Among the participants was General Major Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan, the Chief of the Department of Law of Ministry of Defense Colonel Sedrak Sedrakyan, Military commissar of RA General Major Kamo Kochunts.

The speakers MP Armen Ashotyan, member of “Republican Party of Armenia”, chairman of Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and MP Vardan Khachatryan, member of “Heritage Party”, member of Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs spoke about positive and negative aspects of possible amendments. Vardan Khachatryan stressed the importance of uninterrupted education, and Armen Ashotyan talked about the issue of security. The government officials said that the main reason of the proposed amendments is the “demographic pit” that starts with the years 1990-1992. But the students and lecturers again stressed the importance of education and development of science for the country, they mentioned that the military service is also possible after graduation from the university and offered to find another solution.
  At the end of the meeting the main conclusion was to find ways for providing developments in these spheres.