Today marks Armenian Armed Forces Day

January 28 is celebrated in Armenia as the day of the national army and the Armenian solider.

The Armenian Armed Forces mark their 22nd anniversary today. The origins of the third republic's army date to the early 1990’s (1992-1994) when the newly-independent Armenia was involved in an Azerbaijan-imposed undeclared war against the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic.

As early as in June 1994, army-building, sustainable development and the efficiency raising activities became regular process in the military.

Speaking to Tert.am, Vardan Devrikyan, a deputy director of the National Academy’s Institute of Literature who participated in the Nagorno-Karabakh war, recalled the early days of the army, noting that the volunteer freedom fighters, who had stood up for the liberation struggle, shouldered the entire burden of the country’s defense.

Devrikyan said he knows that the thought of being doomed to win was the only clue to Armenia’s success in the fierce war.

“The spirit of the epoch was best reflected in Monte Melkonyan's words: 'If we lose Artsakh, we will turn the final page in the Armenian history'. That understanding dominated us all, as a matter of fact. Likewise Churchil said about the Armenian Genocode: that the Armenians will cease to exist as a nation and as a political factor. And we came to realize that we would really cease to exist; so we were really doomed to win,” he said.

Speaking of the achievements of the military since the early 1990’s, Devrikyan said he knows from his experience that the present-day army’s general moral-psychological atmosphere is not to be compared with what existed in the early independence period.

“I talk to different servicemen and visit military units. I have realized that any soldier who had military trainings in Hoktemberyan (Armavir) knows more and is more resolute than we were then. After all, the voluntary movement, good though it is, was not a reward of good days. And now have a regular army which is the guarantor of independence, no doubt,” he added.

Devrikyan said he doesn’t agree to the opinion that people are no longer as enthusiastic about defending their fatherland as they were 20 years ago when the war over Karabakh broke out. “[Sergeant] Armen Hovhannisyan’s tragic death came to prove that a guy who was a commoner, an ordinary serviceman who didn’t have a higher education, managed to perform such a feat and halt the diversion at the cost of his life. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have other examples of the kind. I think our soldiers will do absolutely everything possible for the protection of our borders,” Devrikyan added.

The Armed Forces Day is celebrated with traditional visits to Yerablur, a military cemetery on the outskirts of Yerevan which became the burial place of many freedom fighters during the war.

Though it isn’t accepted to speak of the existing problems on the army anniversary day, the topic didn’t skip our attention in the light of the direct links between the army efficiency and the social security of the servicemen and civilians involved in the country’s protection.

The army reforms envisaged for 2014 cannot be considered revolutionary, but the year is definitely going to be very serious in terms of achievements, a spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Defense, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, told our correspondent, commenting on the situation in the military.

“There will be additional payments depending on the salary scale, the classification of first, second and third class specialists, as well as the importance and dangerousness of the job performed. As a new phenomenon, this will ensure a higher pay corresponding to the level of professionalism,” he explained.

The salary of a lieutenant, the lowest officer rank awarded to young servicemen upon graduation from the Military Institute, is above 200 Armenian Drams ($490); extra payments are envisaged for those serving on the frontline. The salary is considered high against the backdrop of the general job market in Armenia.

Summing up the social conditions in the military, Hovhannisyan said he doesn’t find it bad in general. “It could be of course better, but this is all the state can afford at the moment,” he said.