Opinions divided over amendments to military law

According to a new amendment to Armenia’s law on military service, Armenia’s government will grant deferment of military service to people seeking education abroad under government programs for deposits.

Tigran Sahakyan, Head of the Foreign Relations Department, Ministry of Education and Science, stated at a discussion on Wednesday that this measure is supposed to “close the loophole” people try to exploit to evade conscription.

“We must differentiate between the right to education and responsibility toward the state. If you choose the scholarship program, you must respect the government-set rules,” the official said.

The amendments to the law are intended for the people that consider education their top priority.

Director of the Mkhitar Sebastatsi education center Ashot Bleyan said that the amendments to the military service law will not resolve the problem. Rather, it will facilitate discrimination.

Historian Hovhannes Hovhannisyan is sure that the aim of the amendment is unclear.

“The expected amount of deposits, 8.5 million drams ($20,000) is unreasonable,” he said.