Kocharyan: The impression is that boosting army’s combat readiness is not a priority for Armenian authorities
No measures are being taken by the current Armenian authorities to boost the combat readiness of the army, second President Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the opposition Armenia bloc, said in an interview to the local media on Wednesday.
“I don’t see any steps being taken by the Armenian authorities to increase the army's combat readies, there are no such steps. The impression is that it is not a priority for the Armenian authorities,” he said.
According to the ex-president, no significant changes are taking place in the military.
Reacting to a journalist's remark that the media named Arshak Karapetyan as Vagharshak Harutyunyan's replacement in the defense minister’s post, Kocharyan said: “Bravo, congratulations, we’re going to have a combat-ready army very soon. Do you take the appointments of the kind seriously?”
He stated such appointments should not be taken seriously, since those changes do not pursue any well-thought-out and serious goals and the authorities only seek to create an imitation that they are doing something.
As for the final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the former president recalled the statements of the Azerbaijani president and officials that they have allegedly “resolved the Karabakh issue”.
"Have you heard any reasonable statements or approaches from the Armenian authorities? I have not. There is no concept, no approach, we are just going with the flow and God knows what will happen in the end,” Kocharyan said.